Under the Ashen Sky
by Pinehas
Summary: A mournful hound, a vengeful fighter, a mangled flower, and a weary mechanic - Their paths were paved with ashes, sorrow bringing them to Beacon. Together they walk towards the light, to find their places and uncover the mysteries of this cruel but beautiful world. Canon and original story will be intertwined, with very active canon characters involvements.
1. Slate

_Slate left blank is stained with tears,_

_Flowing from eyes of a mourning hound_

_Cyan sky shall be closed to a brawler_

_Jumping with iron legs fueled by wrath_

_Fuchsia flower is scorched with embers,_

_Accepting garden nowhere to be found_

_Rufous house shall be lost to an engineer_

_Toiling with weary hands in rocky path_

_Cinereous paths crossing as they walk by_

_Together they walk under the ashen sky_

Remnant.

Throughout thousands of years of history, hands of millions of poets wrote poems praising its beauty. Nourishing milk and sweet honey flowed in the veins of fertile fields. Mountains lined with verdant forests held precious minerals inside. Oceans overflowed with delicious fish and unending opportunities, open to any fisherman and seafarers. Wide sky tilled the earth with gentle weather at morning and touched the minds of the curious with wonders hidden in its brilliant stars at night. Blessed were mankind to be born in to such abundant and beautiful world.

However, as with light came with shadow, with blessing came curse. Before mankind could even taste the true beauty of the world, they realized that it was under subjugation of a being beyond their comprehension and power. The force that embodied the very darkness and the unknown that mankind feared so much, was determined to shake its very existence to the core. Mankind called this enemy Grimm, for upon their first encounter with them, they received a grim reminder: For all its achievements and monuments, they were tiny and feeble beings on the brink of total annihilation.

Mankind, not one to let the cruel take its breath away, engaged war with Grimm for centuries. Alas, the sheer difference in power between them crushed down on them. The strongest warriors they could raise, the smartest tactics they could think of, only made the futility of resistance clear even to the most dimwitted and idealistic fools. Hope for victory, hope for freedom, and hope for survival dwindled with repeated crushing defeat. For a moment, mankind truly believed that all was lost.

However, their struggle was not in vain. Merciful Earth could not stand to watch its children under suffering anymore, and started to give them a chance for fighting back. After many centuries of desperate struggle, its tenacity and ingenuity finally led to the discovery of this motherly gift, something that proceeded to turn the tide around. When mankind saw it burning through an army of Grimm like a ray of light vanquishing shadow, they saw the very embodiment of the nature's wrath. In reverent awe, they called it Dust.

The spear of retaliation, spiraling with the power of Dust and mankind's will to fight, pierced through the heart of this tyranny, breaking the leash strangling them for centuries. As early mankind prevailed over beasts with discovery of fire, now confident mankind lit its way through the darkness, exorcising the demons within. Soon it regained its freedom, the right to breathe and create. Mankind feared extinction no more.

The beautiful world was once again theirs, thanks to millions of the most brilliant and noble Hunters, people who dedicated themselves to fighting off these threats. Mankind were once again free to live, its civilization free to thrive and expand all over the world. Millions of stories glorifying the deeds of the Hunters were written, and mankind's superiority in this world has become absolute, a fact that fills its heart with pride. And it was well earned, for there was no foe that could pose a true threat to it, for they had all the knowledge and methods of war.

Such was the shallow truth that they gorged on. Soon the joy of survival became the arrogance of domination. Mankind eventually grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that they were remnants, byproducts, of a forgotten past. Some past was forgotten, but some past was hidden. History is written by the victors. History is filled with liars. When one man lived and one man died, the victor's truth become written, and that of the defeated was lost.

For Grimms had no historians of their own, tales of the hunt would forever glorify the Hunters. There was more to the matters than that, something far beyond, but very few men were willing to dig through the mysteries to find the real truth. The absolute majority of the people were content to just live while believing in their false superiority and security, condemning few dissenters as enemies of mankind. Victories were emphasized and defeats buried.

The force of denial was so strong, that there were few who even fail to realize that, despite all their strength, they were still confined in only four nations, for all the other parts of the world was still to be reclaimed. Whenever anyone tried to venture further into the unclaimed world and became devoured by the monsters, it was hidden, explained as missing at worst. As far as they were concerned, Grimm was not a threat to mankind, despite undeniable evidence.

Of course, did not stop some leaders from painting it as a great danger to turn people's attention away from their own wrongdoings and keep the status quo. With the threat of Grimm gone, at least in people's minds, people started to turn towards each other. This is not to say that mankind were completely united in their fights against Grimm, nor were they in peace before. The rich oppressed the poor, the majority silenced the minority, and the strong ruled over the weak.

Perhaps the biggest truth hidden by history was that mankind and the Grimm were not so different, and that the biggest enemy of mankind were the mankind themselves.

- From _Critique on Modern History: Achievement in Ignorance_, by Prof. Ashley Brown

* * *

Under the Ashen Sky

Prologue - Slate

Very few non-governmental organizations on Remnant had more resources and power than Schnee Dust Company, its annual revenues far surpassing most small nations. It should be expected, as Dust used by any person, of any continent, for any purpose, was most likely touched by ever widely touching hands of the megacorporation. Of course, it was not to say that Dust was the only area it dominates. On the process of developing its Dust monopoly, it also took over other prominent businesses as well, such as transportation, construction, medicine, and weapons.

Due to its massive influence, it have affected many nations and their people for a long time, and naturally it made a lot of enemies, whether out of its own fault or not. Many people point out towards the latter, due to its now infamous practice of using controversial labor forces and suspicious business partners. The president of the company was a "man who shall not compromise in the face of adversity", as he described himself during his bestselling memoir, and true to his words, refused to change its practices and policy, not even one iota.

Instead, he chose to deal with the problem by using extreme force on those who oppose him and his empire. If a professor wrote an article that condemns the company, he would have the man expelled from educational field. If a company refused to deal with the company, he would have it shut down. If a revolutionary leader rallied people against the company, he would have the man disappear. The list went on.

Even though nobody ever managed to actually prove that the company was behind all the ruined and mysteriously disappeared lives, people of Remnant were no fool. Even if there were millions of people who held hatred against the company, most people unable lacking resources and courage to fight against the untouchable titan just kept their sentiments to themselves. The company knew it, but its business was not influenced one bit, and it was all that mattered to him.

As such, most people could not join White Fang. They opposed the company, particularly due to the fact that the company was affiliated with the politicians who were against Faunus rights, and its "controversial labor force" often involved exploiting Faunus labor as well. White Fang made sure that absolutely everyone in the whole world knew about their stance. They would boycott its products, hijack its shipments of dust, and inflict deadly harm to important personnel.

Surprisingly, outside of few extremists, the White Fang was not viewed as freedom fighters. This in part had to do with the fact that they also oppose peaceful protest for and by Faunus as well, to the point of executing one outspoken peaceful protester. One pro-Faunus critic condemned White Fang as nothing but violent terrorists who only gave majority of Faunus bad names, and another remarking that it truly takes a monster to fight monster.

Because of how dangerous White Fang and other enemies of the company have become, SDC increased its budget on private security, costing the company hundreds of millions of lien every year. The fact that the company can afford it was a testament to its resources. Several security companies were contracted, with various results; none of them had a complete success rate, few companies even giving up due to White Fang threats.

One of the largest contractors among them was International Security Support Elements, also known as simply the Company. Other than the fact that it started as SDC's cyber security branch, barely anything was known about it until recently. Due to its lack of combat personnel, Schnee depended on thousands of security androids from AK Industries for traditional security, due to their relative affordability. They were placed everywhere, from Dust mining compounds, transportation, and in some case, home security.

However, things changed with AK's spectacular display of ineffectiveness during a recent train robbery. Security feeds showed a platoon of its supposedly the most reliable androids getting completely overpowered by only two White Fang operatives. The representative of AK Industries tried to defend itself, saying that the assailants in question were mid to high ranked operatives and that the androids were simply not equipped to deal with such a level of threat.

Unfortunate for them, the damage was already dealt, and the Company rose as the biggest partner of Schnee in security. Compared to other major security companies, it had very small number of combat personnel. Like its namesake, its primary business focused more on cyber security contractors, and other forms of security support. Even after rising as go to company for security, it got most of combat capable security personnel from other security companies.

However, in regards to combat personnel, what the Company lacked in number, it more than made up with quality. Its combat personnel were mostly made of former special operations and law enforcement units from all over Remnant. When several companies provide SDC with thousands of contractors, it was a handful of contractors from the Company who were placed in charge of them and their training. In addition, Schnee relied on it for the protection of the highest-profile personnel, such as the president and his family.

If Schnee had a lot of suspicious business partners, the Company would have been the most suspicious of all, due to its numerous involvements in several black operations. Allegedly the "contractors" from the Company even went so far as to scorch an entire village in order to keep the mining operation going. Besides that, it was accused of heinous crimes, such as corporate espionage, blackmailing, bribing, kidnapping, murder, and tax evasion. None of the charges ever stuck, but these did not help its reputation one bit.

Schnee kept on exploiting Faunus labor, to which White Fang kept violently retaliate. Just like that, the machine went on, and it cumulated into Operation Falcon Claw, in which the top operatives of the Company, named Task Force 142, attempted to assassinate White Fang's general. Due to unknown complications, however, TF142 was quickly intercepted and fell under vicious counterattack. It was only then the existence of the Company came into surface and subsequent attention and investigation started to reveal more and more about its darker operations.

Of all the things done by the Company, the Operation Falcon Claw gathered particular amount of attraction due to its scope and wide range of connection. As such, the Company spent a lot of resources to keep the ones who knew about the operation quiet. At the very least, it was not too hard to keep the Company personnel, as all of the operators who participated in the operation were killed in action.

All except one.

One surviving operator was quickly sent to Schnee Dust Company's secret hospital, a place only those affiliated with the company knew. He was released after unknown length of intensive care and disappeared. Journalists, government organizations, and White Fang intelligence network tried to locate him with various agendas, but none of them had success. It was as if he disappeared from the face of the planet, and soon he became a subject of rumors, which got more outlandish as it went, to the point of making him a boogeyman to White Fang.

The fact that it had some truth in it probably helped.

* * *

A lean, grey haired young man yawned loudly and stretched in his hospital bed. Now out of his patient gown and in his own clothes, he neatly made his bed and swept the floor, and made sure nothing in the room was broken. When he was done, he looked around the room one last time, nodding in satisfaction to see the room was as clean as the day he entered it.

"This should do it."

Then he turned his eye to the window, covered by sterile white curtain that gave the room a comfortable shade. With a cautious hand, he approached the window and opened the curtain just a little bit. His haggard eyes observed verdant hospital yard, occupied by patients in various conditions. Then he turned his eyes to the sun, shining ever so brightly, until it hurt his eyes.

"Urgh."

Turning his eyes, he closed the curtain and sighed. He then sat on the best his just made, staring at the window with a blank look. That year alone, he had been in the hospital for at least two months. Must he leave just when he was getting used to the place? Still, he had no reason to stay there. The longer he stayed, the longer he owed, but not necessarily monetarily. Packing his belongings, he left the room, letting it be filled with sterile silence. He walked down the long hallway and did not encounter anyone until he encountered a nurse.

"Good morning." He curtly nodded.

"Hey, Shepherd! You really are leaving today, huh?" The nurse replied in a disappointed tone. The young man smiled at the way she pronounced his name; it was Schiefer, but everyone called him Shepherd because it was easier to pronounce. In fact, most people thought that was his actual name.

"As much as I dislike it, yes."

"Oh man, kids are going to miss you so much! You've been so nice to them, you know? Handling them became a lot easier with you around. Not to mention all the cleaning and other menial works you've done."

_Well, they shouldn't. I'm not exactly a role model. Besides, I had to occupy my time somehow._

"Is that so? Why, I am flattered. I am glad that I was of help." Schiefer gave the nurse a weak smile.

"We will never have one like you around here anymore, will we? That's a shame, really. By the way, when you are out, try getting some new clothes."

He looked at what he was wearing; slate combat jacket, silver gloves, grey shirt, ash grey cargo pants, and black combat boots. After examining them for a moment, he turned to the nurse and replied.

"I…fail to see a problem here." This caused the nurse to rest her face in her palm.

"Grey! Sooooooo, much grey. I mean, really, your hair is grey, you have that hollow eyes of a grizzled veteran, and you dress like you walked out of those old timey black and white movies. And you wonder why kids call you Uncle Shepherd?"

"But...uh…okay…? I will…uh…get to that. Yeah…"

Of course he wouldn't.

"Just…take care of yourself, all right? You are alive. Try to act like it."

"Duly noted. Thank you for your concern, and everything you've done for me during my stay here."

"Don't mention it. It really was nice to have you here. Besides, I was just doing my job…and I'm sure that so were you."

"…Yes. Yes I was. Good day."

With that they walked away. When the nurse wanted to say something and turned around, he was long gone.

The sun shone down on him painfully as he took a step outside the hospital, and he was forced to cover his eyes. He was never been too fond of summer, mostly because of how bright sun burned. Raised in a northern forest region where temperature easily dropped to minus 60 Celsius during the winter, he couldn't handle the heat.

In addition, bright light always made him feel as if someone was watching him. That day, it really was the case. As soon as he stepped out of the hospital, a black car stopped practically in front of him. Recognizing the car, he entered the car without any word when the door opened. The black car was far larger in the inside, with the seat covered in fine material. A man wearing sunglasses was driving the car. The man sitting in the passenger seat, waiting for him was a man wearing silver suit, red tie, and dark blue shirt.

"It's been a while, Master."

Schatten Condottiero, the CEO of International Security Support Elements.

Name was the only thing most people knew about him, and even his name was highly likely to be fake. Despite being 49 years old, well-combed blue hair, bright green eyes, and fit body made him look as if he was still in 20s. On his wrinkleless face was a mischievous smile fitting for a schoolboy.

"Oh for god's sake, how many times I told you to stop calling me that…you know what, forget it. How are you doing, son?"

"I feel great, thanks to you."

"Good to hear that. Son, I know I said this millions of times by now, but please, next time you carry out a suicide mission, have the decency of letting me know, all right? That way I can prepare an extraction or at least a funeral."

"Forgive my rash conduct. It will not happen again."

"Nah, it was a pretty badass thing you did, so I guess I'm going to give you a pass. Still, you got hospitalized for a three weeks, got out, and then two days later you got readmitted for _five _weeks. That's frankly ridiculous. And here I thought you were done with all the insanities after that time in the train."

"I still consider myself justified that time. This time, however, I have no excuse. Perhaps I will take things a little bit easy."

"Unfortunately, that would be out of option."

The executive handed the operator a folder, which the latter took and open. He examined the contents, which were mostly several documents. As he read the paper, however, frown started to form around his haggard eyes.

"Master, what is this?"

"Admission papers and academic transcripts."

The operator paused. His throat felt dry as ominous feeling started to overtake him.

"I believe I am going to regret asking this, but…for what?"

"You, will be entering Beacon."

Silence.

With the papers still in hand, he raised his head and slowly turned to Schatten, the edges of his eyes twitching. In that position, he stared at his boss for a whole minute. He did try say something, but words failed to escape from his mouth.

"Beacon Academy."

"Yes."

"Me. Entering Beacon Academy."

"Eeyup."

Schiefer looked like he wanted to say something, and in a very, very loud volume, at that, but he swallowed it.

"So let me get this straight. You want me…to become a Huntsman."

"Correct."

"_Why_?"

"Why not?"

"_Why not_? Master, I am 20 as of this year, I am too old. Also, I never went to _any_ school, let alone a Hunter training academy. It would be like trying to go to a college without even attending elementary school."

"I suppose that is a way of putting it. Still, you are entering. You are going to do this, for the company, for me, and for yourself."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Let me explain. Initially, Hunters were only used to fight Grimms. However, recently there are Hunters who join private security contractors. Because of their combat capability and expertise in Aura and Dust, our potential clients are preferring companies with a lot of Hunter-contractors. As much as I hate to admit this, I never foresee this development, and we are completely lacking in Hunters. As such, I'm doing my best to recruit graduating Hunters to our company.

"That's where you come in. I need you to become a bridge. I need someone who is knowledgeable in the arts of both Hunters and contractors, so the former can be integrated into our Company's ranks more smoothly. You have been a part of the company for almost ten years but still young, so you will do perfectly. Before you say anything, no, you are not that old. I've known some Hunters who entered Beacon at somewhere around 22 and 23. You would do pretty well, seeing how much combat experience you will no doubt have compared to most freshmen."

He just stared at his boss, his mouth open. He shook his head a bit before opening his mouth again.

"Okay, I believe I understand what your intentions are, Master."

Even if he did not, he would not dare to defy his Master's order. It did not mean that he should not let his mind heard.

"I…I still have my doubts, however. I mean, four years in a completely new environment? It sounds a little bit unreasonable."

"You say things like that even after working in this company for 8 years? All right, how about I give you something _extra_ to motivate you? There is something that you need to do for the sake of yourself. Turn to the next page, will you?"

As soon as he flipped the folder he was given, he saw a picture of a white haired girl whose sapphire blue eyes shone like stars, looking somewhere between 13 and 15. He frowned again as he recognized the delicate face very well.

Weiss Schnee, the heiress of Schnee Dust Company.

"…Pardon me, but I fail to see how this is supposed to motivate me."

"Really now? Oh come _on_, kid, I assigned you as one of her bodyguards! If I remember correctly, you two got along pretty well too."

"Master, that was years ago. I am most certain that she does not need any bodyguard at this point. Should she truly require one, she deserves someone more competent than me."

"And there you go again." Schatten rolled his eyes. "How many times do I need to tell you? You were the best protection she had short of gods themselves."

Schiefer bit his lips and clenched his fist at this, silently shaking. Schatten looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I let _it_ happen to her. I know that you are going to tell me that it was not my fault, but for heaven's sake, I was _right there_, I should have done something, _anything_ other than _**nothing**_!"

Schiefer's eyes widened as he started to breath heavy. Schatten opened his mouth to say something, but just closed it again. For a moment he thought about what words he should choose to deal with situation.

"I know that you are blaming yourself for that incident, and I can see that no words from me can convince you that it _wasn't_ your fault, so I'm not even going to try. What I am going to try, though, is to remind you the danger of Grimm."

Schiefer stared at Schatten.

"As you know, once she enters Beacon, she will have to deal with Grimm pretty frequently. People tend to underestimate Grimms, thinking that they are something that a proficient Hunter can just mow down by dozens. But not only you faced plenty of them in the wild, you've also been to Unwissend, what Grimm have done to that town and people who lived in it. I know how scared you were, even from simply watching the aftermath of the massacre.

"And I know, that right now you are being haunted by the thought of your lady will be out there, fighting them in all their violent nature. Do you think she can handle all of them on herself? I don't. She's going to get herself hurt really bad_. _If…wait no, _when_ she does, you are never going to forgive yourself, for letting it happen to her _again._ Am I right or not?"

No words came out of Schiefer's mouth as he covered most of his face with his shaky palms. His eyes stared at the ceiling of the car. He stayed in that position for at least five minutes before speaking up again.

"Yes. I will take it. For her."

"No, for _yourself_. Look, son, I know you have your doubts. But believe me, you're gonna have a great time there! I'm a graduate myself, and I tell you, it was some of the most fun years in my whole life. Think of this as a long and intense break. I know you never took any break, and I think you really need it right now."

"I do? My apologies, then."

"Ahahahaha, ah…you just don't change, do you. Read over those papers thorough, you are going to join it in about a week from now."

"…A week? Oh well, I suppose I have been given shorter time to prepare for bigger assignments."

Then he remembered something.

"Master, what was the last one?"

"What?"

"No, you said there were three reasons why I'm entering Beacon. One for the company, one for myself, but what about yourself?"

"Oh. Well, about that…turn to the _next_ page."

Schiefer complied. The next page, showed a picture of a red haired girl wearing a headphone, sitting in a café, more or less stuffing her face with cookies and milk. She couldn't have been any older than 13, in his opinion.

"Who is she?"

"Ruby Rose, she is a student at Signal Academy. She was just in the news this morning, didn't you watch?"

"Was she? My room's TV was out and I was mostly cleaning, so I could not have. What about her? She is not your hidden daughter or anything, is she?"

"That joke was so Natalie." Schatten rolled his eyes. "No, I have no relation to her in any way, be assured of that. But I do know her, in a way. She's entering Beacon this year, and I want you to keep an eye on her."

"Wait, what? She looks barely old enough to enter Signal, let alone Beacon."

"She's 15, actually. She was just admitted to Beacon for her exploits during the Dust robbery. Done by old Roman, no less."

This made the grey haired young man perk up at the familiar name.

"Wait, Roman? As in, Roman Torchwick? Where did this robbery take place?"

"In the Vale City. Why?"

"Oh, I just want to pay him a visit. I have not seen him since that job there. I would not have been able to completed it without his help."

"Well, all right, I remember how that operation went, so I guess I can't stop you. I can't quite recommend it, though. I'm sure he's pretty tense right now, even more than usual. He also started to work with this ex-Huntress named Cinder Fall, and from what I gathered, I saw nothing but bad things about her. Things might get ugly, you know."

"I am certain that at least he wouldn't try to kill me. I cannot comment on this Ms. Fall, but I am sure she is not someone who would kill a stranger during in her first encounter. Or maybe she is and I am simply being too optimistic."

"If you really want to pay him a visit, make it quick. The entrance ceremony is in a week, and I'm sure finding him would take at least 3 days, even for you."

"_A half-day will suffice_." Initially Schatten looked surprised, but just nodded in understanding.

"...Well, I suppose for a hunting dog like you, it really is. Should things come to the worst, just go ahead and kill him, I'm pretty sure I can provide you an alibi and such. "

"I only wish to have a little chat. Nobody will get hurt, I assure you."

"I hope you are right. I can't afford losing someone like you, after all."

"…Uh, thank you, Master. Now, going back to the topic, why do you need me to keep an eye on her? What is the deal with her?"

"Oh her. Well…let's just say I have my reasons, personal, at that. If you must know, I suppose I can call it an unfulfilled promise."

"What do you mean by that, if I may ask?"

"Sorry, not right now. I will tell you when the time comes. I'm sorry, I know you hate when I things like that, but I really want you to understand, okay?"

"There is no need for apology. You gave me a job, and even if it involved dying for no reason, I would have done it with all my capacity."

"I know. That's why I can count on you."

After that, there weren't much talk between each other. The operator simply stared outside, his mind empty as the sight of summer scenery flowing into this haggard eyes. Green leaves of the passing trees rustled in the hot wind and people stayed under their pleasant shades, taking refuse from heat rising from concrete and cement that makes up a lot of the city. He remembered visiting the city years ago, and things have changed so much. The time flowed by without every waiting for him, and he wondered exactly where in the point of time he would be standing when his breath stops.

Something came to his mind, leading him to check the photograph of the red-haired girl once again. His eyes widened as he noticed a particular detail of the girl.

"What is it, son?"

"Silver eyes…"

Suddenly things made so much more sense. _That _was the real reason.

Schatten then grabbed his operator's head and pulled it towards to his, their foreheads touching each other. Previous mischievous smile and jovial attitude in the executive evaporated like a mist, his bright green eyes filled with mixture of sadness and wrath.

"…Yeah. You know what that means."

"Yes, I do."

Those were the eyes that started everything, the eyes that made them what they were.

"Good." The executive did not speak further.

"So I will be doing this job, after all."

"More like a job, training, _and_ vacation. It's a complete package!"

"If you say so."

The operator chuckled. It was short lived, as his heart was filled with sense of uncertainty and nervousness. Then he remembered something.

"Master, do you mind if we stop by somewhere?"

* * *

Schiefer entered an empty cemetery, filled with nothing but occasional trees planted between rows of irregular looking tombstones. On his hand was a fake flower with vibrant colors of red, yellow, and purple. He walked towards a tombstone and laid the flower, staring at the newly placed slate with a hollow look

"Hey, Gordon."

Heavy silence was the only response he got.

"This is it. This…will be my first mission since that operation. Also, this might just be my first solo mission. You told me that I would be taking these kinds of missions in the future...and it turns out you are correct after all."

Although he checked it while entering, he looked around his surrounding once again just to make sure that he was alone.

"I am a little scared. Natalie would probably make fun of me, but perhaps that makes what I am feeling right now normal. Truth be told, I do not think there was any mission where I was _not_ scared. There are too many unknowns in our work, and they always made me doubt myself. But you, Ulrich, and Natalie were all with me, so I felt okay. Now…though…I am not sure if I can do this. I know. I just…know that something, something beyond my control, is going to happen. When it does…I have no idea if I would be able to handle it. I…"

He tried to continue, but something stuck in his throat, stopping his voice. After struggle, though, he decided to continue on.

"I…I…am nobody on my own."

That was about as much as he could go on before he felt a hot tear flowing down his cheek. He immediately wiped it off. Looking around to see if anyone saw him.

Time he left. It cannot be helped.

"I will be going. I will…see you around, Gordon."

With that he walked back to the car with empty hands, wind gently ruffling his grey hair.

"I am done." He spoke as he took a seat in the car.

"That was quick."

"I said what I wanted. Why did you not come with me?"

"Considering what I have done, if I did, he would have risen from the grave just to strangle me."

"That so."

"Yeah." Schatten gave his driver the order to start the car again.

The engine of the car gently hummed as it rolled down the road. At one point, the operator noticed his hands shaking and could not help staring at them. Why were they? What was he afraid of? Was it simply the new mission? No, it was something more than that.

"Master." He asked, his eyes still fixed on his shaking hands.

"What is it?"

"Do you think a man can change?" This made Schatten turn to his operator with a curious look. Then he had a thoughtful look as he deliberated this himself.

"I can't say. Certain natures of a person are so fixed that it's simply impossible. Most men die the men they were when they came out of their mothers' womb. Perhaps you are not most men, and can be changed. Should you truly wish to do so, but find it impossible no matter how hard you try...maybe you should try changing your approach."

"Such as...?"

"I don't know, get help from someone other than yourself. Frankly, I don't have any answer myself. Your sessions with therapists didn't go very well, but it seems that you can't find any answer on your own."

He did not respond to it and just looked up to the sky. Wide layer of cloud formed above of the cemetery, with sunlight shone through it irregularly. To the young operator, it looked as if the whole sky had turned into cinereous grey.

Little did he knew, he was not the only one whose eyes held ashes.

_To Be Continued _

* * *

AN: Normally I read and write fics with canon characters only. However, Monty Oum made this series' setting too inviting for original characters for me to resist (the whole naming rule, which made team creation a little bit more complicated, though)! As such, I gave into the temptation. I wanted to try something different. OC fics are incredibly common, especially in this fandom, but they tend to get...less than positive reputations. That's why I wanted to challenge myself and write an OC fic that is just as great as fics that feature canon characters, and brings something new to the setting.

But most importantly, I wanted to have fun and write a fanfic that is fun and interesting to read. As such, I would greatly appreciate if you guys tell me what you liked and disliked about my fic. I would appreciate it even more if you point out grammatical and spelling errors, awkward phrasings, et cetera. I am not good at catching those myself, and I need those pointed out, so I can improve the story and in the process, my writing. As an aspiring author, feedbacks in general mean a lot to me, especially constructive criticisms.

Thank you for reading, and have a nice day. :)


	2. Cyan

AN: Some of you probably noticed that in the character tag, outside of OC I have the entire Team RWBY except Yang. I only did that because the other three have immediate involvement in the plot, while Yang is slightly more indirect. Pretty much ALL of Team RWBY and JNPR will have importance in the plot, beyond what they had in the canon. The goal of this story is following the canon, while giving the OC team a story of their own. Oh, in case you are wondering/worrying, no, there won't be any OC X Canon character shipping. I frown upon that, and let's leave it at that.

Here is something I want to try: BGM. I chose something of an opening theme for this fanfic, like _This Will be the Day_ for the main series. It's called _Deus Non Vult _(4th/5th Google search result). For the action scene in this chapter, I recommend _Showing Off_, from Bleach. This is actually the music I was listening to while writing the scene. Of course, you can choose some other music, or just not listening to as music at all, your preference.

Oh, did I mention that there will be an action scene in this chapter? Yes, there will be, and I tried so it could look at least one quarter like the fight scenes in the actual series. Kudos goes to those who recognize what kind of martial arts style Cian is using. I'm really hoping that the action scene is not only fun, but also comprehensible.

Reviews and feedbacks in general are always needed and appreciated, because they help me improve my writing and inspire me to keep on writing.

Without any further ado, enjoy. :)

* * *

Shadow cast over a valley in Mistral.

Surrounded by mountains, the town of Unwissend would sometimes have the whole place covered by shadows when the sun took just a little unfortunate angle. There were times when, looking down from the mountain range it was right next to, the whole town would be invisible except for silhouettes of houses and some trees. Despite that and rather extreme shifts in weather, it was a sweet home to miners, hunters, lumberjacks, et cetera. The town began to prosper when a small deposit of Dust was discovered in one of the mountains. Up to five thousand people used to live there.

Now it was a ghost town.

Ten years ago, the entire town was overrun by hordes of Grimm. The attack came so strongly, so fast, that out of 5,000 inhabitants, less than 300 people evacuated the town, many of them injured. The townspeople were completely unprepared, even though they knew that the number of Grimms near the area was growing steadily. At one point, the government even warned the townspeople to evacuate the town, only to be ignored by them. The crisis could not be averted.

Of course, it was not to say that the villagers were entirely responsible. To start with, the townspeople were capable of fending off Grimms on their own, and even if they couldn't, their livelihood depended on the region's mountain. In addition, even though the government issued warning, it never did anything to actually quell the number of Grimm, only telling the townspeople to evacuate.

Most importantly, there was something experts found strange. The number of Grimms was indeed increasing, but the sheer number of them that attacked the town that night was simply disproportionate. According to government surveyors, the number of Grimms living around the town was estimated to be 800 at the very most, the general estimate being more around 400 to 600.

The town was attacked by over 9,000 Grimms.

Ever since the mankind successfully began to harness the power of Dust to drive Grimms out of their land, and established the Grand Barriers around the major countries' border to keep most of them out, such number of Grimms was simply unseen. They appeared and disappeared within less than 6 hours, leaving nothing but trails of blood and a feast for scavengers.

It wasn't the only strange thing about the attack. According to the survivors, the Grimms that attacked the town that night were no ordinary ones. The witnesses reported creatures that were unusually large, covered with armor, or flying. The variants of them varied depending on the witnesses, some's description being more vivid or imaginative than the others. However, there was one detail that was included by every single witness, perhaps one that they found the most abnormal and troubling.

Nobody had complete details of that certain Grimm, but compilation of fragmented descriptions drew a picture of a 8 feet tall being that had an appearance of a muscular man with a dark grey skin and no genitalia. Also of note was its mask. Normally Grimm wore white mask with red inscriptions on it, but this variant of Grimm wore a silver mask that completely covered its head.

According to the witnesses, this Grimm rampaged harder than any other Grimm, being more vicious and faster than any Grimm ever seen yet. It was not particularly durable in comparison to others, as one survivor recounted a townsman cutting its arm off with one good swing of an axe. The thing that made this unstoppable, however, was its healing factor, which allowed it to regrow its limbs in a matter of seconds. There were some darkly humorous reports that it killed a man who cut its limb off by beating him with the very same limb.

Although there is no evidence of any sort, the survivors strongly believe that the abnormal Grimm, now named the Humanoid Grimm, spearheaded the attack, by killing a dozen men in less than ten seconds. Curiously enough, its sheer ferociousness did not limit itself to human beings. Some survivors say that they saw it attacking humans and Grimms alike, perhaps even more aggressive towards the latter. Some even say that they have seen it devouring another Grimm.

As the only the details about this "Humanoid Grimm" are that provided from the survivors themselves, who seem to have only highly distorted and unreliable report in regards to it, its existence is dubious at best as of now. However, the fact that Unwissend was overrun by abnormal number and variants of Grimms stand true, judging from their corpses. The government officials refuse to take active measures related to this incident, some even outright denying of the massacre.

Despite the overwhelming loss and lack of support from authority, the survivors of the attack are adjusting to new lives surprisingly well. Some of the children who was present during the massacre even went as far as to enter Hunter academies. One survivor, who was now a fresh graduate of Signal Academy, upon asked about the massacre, replied as followed:

"It was a horrific thing, yeah, it happened, and there is no denying that, no matter what anyone else says. Back then I was a scared kid looking for my parents. Well, time has changed. I'm going to enter Beacon, and once I graduate, I'm going to take the fights to them. I hope they know how to speak, because I really want to listen to them begging for mercy while I kill them slowly and painfully."

From _Grimm Reminder: Night of the Massacre_, by Peter Grayson

* * *

Under the Ashen Sky

Prologue - Cyan

Sky was tinged with orange and pink, the red sun about to sink down the mountains. The walls of mountains started to cast shade over now abandoned town. Ever since the attack that decimated the town, government made sure that nobody entered the place. They even set up guards to patrol its edges, as unnecessary as that was. The fact that there were sizable numbers of Grimms even after ten years was a good enough of deterrent for most people, so the guards never really had to do anything except to walk around.

Of course, every place and job encounters the unexpected eventually. These unexpected were what ended up getting a lot of people fired or even killed. Some people always prepared themselves for such incidents, taking no chances whatsoever. The two guards who were stationed at the northern entrance of the town, however, were not those people. In fact, these were those people who were simply not qualified for their job at the first place.

Two guards were just standing there, loitering around, their fingers playing around the triggers of their rifles, minds already on the verge of collapse from overwhelming boredom

One of them let out a big sigh.

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"You ever wondered why we're here?"

"Uh…I don't know. Did you choose to be here?"

"Why would I? We don't get to choose where we get stationed, we just go wherever the upper brass throws us into."

"We don't have much choice in our life, do we? We are thrown in this world, lacking a choice, like a dog without a bone. We are finite beings whose path in life is being defined by arbitrary factors. The earlier we accept it, the better off we are. But how can one easily acknowledge those kind of bleak truths without losing will to live? Sometimes I wake up, and think what I'm even doing in this uncaring world. It keeps me up at night, man."

"…What? I wasn't asking some bullshit rambling on geworfenheit, I was just asking why we are here in this valley, guarding this ghost town."

"What? Oh, well…to keep people out of the place, obviously."

"Who the hell would even enter this place? There are…I don't know, one babillion Grimms there."

"Are there really?"

"I don't know, I haven't checked it myself. Anyway, my point still stands; there are pretty much nothing but empty houses and Grimms, so why?"

"Fuck if I know. Probably the same reason why people rob graves. I mean, why graves, man? There are fucking zombies, ghosts, and shit."

"I'm pretty sure they are not real."

"What? How do you know?"

"Because there is no scientific proof that they exist."

"There isn't any scientific proof that they _don't _exist either."

"The fact that there is no proof that they exist _is_ the proof that they don't exist."

"That means that you can also say-"

"Shut up, shut up, just…shut up. If you don't I'm going to shoot myself in the head, and after that, I'm going to shoot you too. So _help_ me…"

"Okay fine, fine, just don't shoot me."

"God, I'm bored out of my skull. Until when do you think we will have to do this duty? I mean…when will those upper brass guys stop thinking that this place is worth keeping anyway?"

"I don't know, let's ask this guy."

"Wait…who?"

Then the guards both looked at a very imposingly tall figure that towered them. He was wearing an open grey hooded jacket that concealed his face but revealed his very muscular torso, and a turquoise shorts with red trails of fire drawn around the edge. Wrapping his lower legs were a pair of what appeared to be thick, metallic looking, cyan colored leg warmers.

"Uh…hey, Red?"

"Yeah?"

"We…are supposed to keep people out of this place, right?"

"Yup."

"You think he wants to get in?"

"I don't know. Let's ask."

Before they could ask anything, the figure grabbed both of their heads and slammed them together, knocking both guards out. Once the guards were completely out, the tall figure simply leaped over the gate.

Inside the village, the figure took his hood off, and the orange sunlight revealed his cyan colored hair.

"Well, that was easy."

Cian Naikhan chuckled as he stretched and briskly walked into the town.

* * *

As he walked through the town, the emptiness of the town, the faint smell of the dead and fading sound of crows cawing, filled his heart with gloom. The burnt down houses that started to either crumble down or being reclaimed by the wildlife, the road covered with dirt and grime, smell of fire and chemical filling the air. No longer was the lively air of life that used to blow through the street, only the whisper of ashes.

"Those sons of bitches…did they bloody napalmed this place?! Good fucking lord..."

Cian cursed as he examined the devastation. Was being overrun by Grimms not enough? If they were going to call in military force, why couldn't they have done it during the attack, not years after it? What, did Grimms carry some kind of infectious disease or something? Was anyone even inside the town to catch that thing? Sometimes he just couldn't understand how the government's plan worked.

Outside of few crows and scavenger flying around the sky, he could not feel a single sign of life. Of course, just because there were no signs of life, it didn't mean that Grimms were absent either. In fact, lack of wildlife was one of the surefire sign that the area was claimed by Grimms, because of their tendency to attack any wildlife. Cian knew this better than anyone else in Signal Academy.

As such, the silence of the town made him smile.

He walked to the middle of the town and stared at now dried up fountain. The sensation of the fountain's cool water touching his skins as he played inside it with his (sorta) sister during summer days, swept through his skins like wave. The memory weighed down on his body, and he took a seat at the edge of the fountain. His scarlet eyes stared at the sky until it lost its pink and orange hue, replaced by blue and purple, his mind lost in memories.

Once his skin could feel the colder air of the night, he jumped out of his seat.

"Ah crap, I forgot!"

He had a business in that town, after all.

With a brisk step, he headed toward to his own home. He gritted his teeth when he saw his house of rufous colored bricks burnt to the ground, even worse than other houses. A pile of rubbles were all that welcomed him. Gardens filled with flowers of all colors, tall tree with a treehouse, all gone. He collapsed on his knees, hot tears turning the desolate sight of his former into a haze.

"Why...WHY!"

Initially he wanted to keep it quiet, but soon he lost himself and started to wail, like a little child who could not find his parents. Tears dropped on the back of his one hand like a spring rain. With the other hand, he kept on pounding the scorched ground. As he punched, he roared and his roar became louder and more monstrous as his pounding went on. It was only after he cried so much that his eyes stung, and one of his hand became bloody that he stopped.

He saved up money for months for a fare to come all the way here, and it was for nothing? It was something he couldn't simply accept. As such, he decided to go and look inside the rubbles. Debris after debris, he moved and dug through them until _both_ his hands were almost bloody, but he could not find what he came to his old hometown for.

"Come on, come on…gargh!"

Pain was a bit too much for his fingers, forcing him to stop digging through. There were so much dirt in his fingers he couldn't even suck on it to make the pain stop.

"Goddamn it…"

He stared at the sad pile that used to be his home. The longer he stared at it, the less motivated he became. What exactly was he doing, digging through a napalmed house anyway? Perhaps he should just give up. The train back to Mistral Station would be arriving within hours.

Then he stared at his dirty hand and clenched it.

"Don't you screw with me! AAAAAHHHHH!"

There was no way in hell he could just return with an empty hand. He just learned that his house got burnt down for no reasons he couldn't understand, his visit here would be some kind of a gain!

With a newfound resolve, he continued digging. He kept on digging until he found something glittering in the darkness. The object glowed even though there was no moonlight because of clouds. It was as if it was giving its own light, possibly so that he could find it.

He reached for it and pulled it out…and light of joy splashed through his gloomy face once more.

"Ahahahahaha, hell YEAH, of course I would find this! I knew the trip here wasn't a waste!"

With his newfound treasure inside, he pumped his fist raising to now uncovered moon. The pale moon gave off its light, shining now desolate town below. The longer he stared at the sky, the more he realized how it was closed to him. When he was a kid, he always thought that no one could take the sky away from him. Apparently someone or something wanted to prove him wrong.

Then he heard a familiar growl. As his eyes returned to the ground, he found himself surrounded by what must be at forty Beowolves. They all looked at him, growling, as if he was a fine piece of fat, juicy steak. Cian stared at the creatures with widened eyes. But soon smile spread on his face, and soon he started to laugh like a madman.

"Ahahahaha, ah…oh wow. You know, you guys…have _no _idea how happy I am to see you."

Shadow cast on his face and only his scarlet eyes glowed in the dark, as he stored the object in his pocket.

"You know how long I was preparing to come here? It almost went down to drain because of you guys."

Cian put on his gloves (he mentally slapped himself for not putting them on when he was digging) before opening up his jackets and reached the inside of it with both of his hands. What he pulled out reflected the pale moonlight: A pair of outrageously large pistols, each with 25 centimeters long barrels and weighing near 7 kilograms.

"Now, I don't have much time, so I will make it quick. Right now, I wish that all of you just dropped down dead. But, knowing that you are all bunch of retarded dipshits, you don't even know how to do that."

His enormously strong leg muscles tensed up.

"As such…"

He kicked ground with enough force to create a small cloud of dust and debris behind him and landed between two Beowolves, putting each of his guns on their heads.

"I'll help you through!"

As he pulled the triggers, blue fire exploded out of the barrels with a deafening bang and recoil, exploding two Grimms' heads instantly.

The party had officially began.

Another Beowolf roared and charged at him, with its arm reaching towards him. Cian knocked the arm away with his left gun and lunged, putting the right gun inside its mouth. With another bang, he blew up the top half of its head.

Spining, he aimed both of his guns at a Beowolf and shot the arms off and kicked it in the face. When another Beowolf attacked him from the side, he grabbed arm and twisted it, pulling the body toward him and shot it in the stomach, the bullet piercing not only its body and that of the Grimm behind it.

Four Beowolves attacked him from back and front, right and left. Cian raised his eyebrow in amusement; they were already doing far better than those henchmen from martial arts or spy movies that insist on keep on charging at the heroes one at a time. Kudos for combat pragmatism.

Of course, not that it was enough to save them.

He placed his right hand below his left shoulder and fired, shooting the Beowolf attacking from behind in the ribs. The resulting recoil allowed him to uppercut the Beowolf that was attacking from front with a pistol whip.

Immediately, he ducked, dodging the claw of the Beowolf attack him from the left. The Beowolf was thrown off balance for a moment, and he grabbed its arm and spun, throwing its body to the Beowolf attacking him from the right. Before they could even fall to the ground, he fired at them, blasting both heads with one round.

Ten down, thirty to go.

He dashed in the middle of four Beowolves, and did a spin while firing. He shot two of them in the face and chest, while pistol whipping the rest two. Before one of them could fall to the ground, he leapt over it, roundhouse kicking a Beowolf standing behind it in the face.

When one was attacking him from the front, and two from behind, he used both of the pistols to fire at the one attacking him from the front. He let the recoil push his body backward, and knocked two Beowolves attacking from behind out, with an elbow to each of their face.

He jumped up when two Beowolves lunged towards him. When they were below him, he shot down, hitting them on the backs.

Twenty down, twenty to go.

Now remaining Beowolves were far more hesistant to approach him. He checked the time and realized that he had only over an hour to catch his train.

Annoyance evident on his face, he threw both of his pistols to the air. Then the iron leg warmers wrapping his legs transformed with whir and clicks, now covering his knees and feet as well. As the pistols descended, he flipped, spinning in the air 360 degrees, and attaching the guns on his boots.

Cyan colored iron boots with enormous pistols attached to them, such was the true form of his weapon: Ferrum Tabernus.

Time to pick up the speed.

He took a kicking stance, with his arms in front of him, guarding his face. A particularly brave Beowolf lunged at him. He fired the gun attached to his left leg, throwing a roundhouse kick with the added force of the recoil. Before the Beowolf even could hear the gunshot, his left foot landed on its face with a flash.

A famous martial artist with a devastatingly quick and powerful left head-kick said about his kicks, "right leg, hospital, left leg, cemetery." It was pretty much the same with Cian as well.

When he was wearing Ferrum Tabernus, though, it was more along the line of: right leg, hospital, left leg, stratosphere.

The sheer force of the kick ripped the Beowolf's head clean off of its shoulder, sending it flying across the town and smashing through a window.

"Three points, you dirty whore!"

Now he did not wait for the Beowolves to come at him and dashed. Jumping, he blast-kicking two of them in the chest and with the recoil, spin through backwards and knocked out another two by kneeing them on their faces.

When one went for his legs, he dodged it by hopping up and when his feet landed on its back, he blast-kicked it, instantly killing it, and propelled himself forward, raising his leg up and slamming his heel down on another Beowolf's head.

Another lunged for his head, and he replied by jumping at its face and wrapping his legs around its face (the fact that the creature had teeth must have eluded him) and backflipped, slamming its head to the ground. Two attacked him from the both side, and he jumped up and kicked both of them in the face.

Thirty down, ten to go.

Time to finish this.

With a flick of his ankles, the guns in his boots fired off their magazines. He pulled new, more powerful magazines from his pants' pockets, tossing and loading them in the air by another flip.

Immediately as his feet touched the ground, he blast-kicked off, and threw himself at the nearest Beowulf. Rather than the face, he kicked it in the back of its head, propelling himself forward to another, kicking it in same place, and continue. He repeated this twice before landing himself right in the middle of all the remaining six Beowolves.

Rather than his feet, he landed on his hands. Then, by firing off wildly, he spun in an insane speed like a blender, kicking and shooting all six of them in two spins.

And then there was none.

He looked around his surrounding, panting. Perhaps he was going a little bit overboard? Oh well, it got the job done, so he wasn't complaining. If nothing else, he would make it to the train in time. Not only he found what he came to his hometown for, he also got to kill many, many Grimms, so he could call the day productive. Of course, his foster sister would give him some strong words for all these, but it would definitely be worth it.

Then out of the corner of his eyes, he saw one Beowolf, still moving. Sick but serene smile spread on his face, he slowly walked towards it. When he got there, he slammed his foot on its head, controlling his force so he wouldn't crush it.

"Hey, there. It was pretty fun tonight, so I can't complain. Too bad that I couldn't play longer, because I know there are more of you cunts in this town alone."

He exerted steadily more force to the Grimm's head, making it groan out in pain.

"It hurts, doesn't it? Are you scared? I sure was, when you and your kind turned this town into a living hell. I don't know if you were there or not, but I don't really care anyway. Listen carefully, you despicable fuck."

Now the Grimm was about to have its eyes pop out of its skull because of sheer pressure.

"I'm going to Beacon in a few days. Once I graduate, I'm going to return here and clean the whole place. Then, I'm going to kill every last one of you, until the world never remembers that your breed even existed. Say, do you know that Grimm that look like a human, the Humanoid Grimm, as some call it? Tell it that I'm coming."

With one push, Cian crushed the Grimm's skull, splattering fragments of its skull and brain all over.

"Never mind, I will tell it myself."

When he turned to the sky, he now saw stars glittering like gems, embedded in dark sky. He remembered the last time he saw the sky of the town, when it looked as if it was as crimson as the blood that flowed the street. It was no longer the sky that filled his heart with dream and hope for the future.

If they took the sky away from him, he wouldn't let them gaze upon it either.

_To Be Continued_


	3. Fuchsia

AN: This chapter will need it more, because it's longer than previous two chapters. I mean, I certainly didn't intend to; it was supposed to be only half the length. Feel free to ask if anything confuses you.

As with last chapter, reviews and feedbacks in general are always needed and appreciated, because they help me improve my writing and inspire me to keep on writing.

Without further ado, enjoy.

Opening Theme – _Deus Non Vult (click the 5th Google search result) _

* * *

Literature, video game, movies, etc, pop-culture have grown quite fond of covering stories of Hunters, fictional or real. Initially they were quiet warriors in the dark, forgoing recognition and sometimes even payment, fighting Grimms. Populace knew that they existed, but they remained as a mere concept; something that made the threat of Grimms less immediate, just like how people view garbage men as thing that made their trash go away.

Things have changed when Cheryl Blossom, a high ranked Huntress decided that there was no need for Hunters to be all secretive, and the world should know what they are like? She initially started with writing books about her (largely fictionalized) adventures as a Hunter. Obviously, she was not the first writer to do so, but because she knew how to appeal to the taste of modern readers, her book met with national, and soon, international acclaim.

Then her books were adapted into movies. Initially Blossom's role was to be played by a combination of an actor and a stuntwoman, like most movies involving action heroines usually did. However, after several accidents proved that no stuntwomen (and stuntmen dressed as women) could pull what she described in her story, the producers decided to call the Huntress and have her star as herself. She refused the idea several times before finally giving in. Before joining the production, she was recorded as saying "I will probably regret this."

The rest was a history.

Soon she became a celebrity figure that the world hadn't seen for decades, an idol for men and women alike. The fact that she had a quite attractive physical features helped as well. The success convinced her to keep her work as a Huntress, while occasional doing occasional acting roles. However, her popularity became so great that she eventually accepted the proposal of giving up her career as a Huntress and pursue that of a full time actress, something unheard of until then. Although much lighter on action due to her age, Blossom still enjoys fame even to this day.

Sheer success of her novels and movies inspired hundreds of authors and Hunters, renewing once-forgotten romantic portrayal of the Hunters. At its peak of popularity, one out of every four book in a typical bookstore, both fiction and non-fiction, would be about Hunters, one way or another. Their popularity is decreased, but only by a little; even now one out of every ten book will be about them. Hunter tales, also known as Jägermärchen, has become a genre of its own.

Obviously, this inspired millions to become Hunters, hoping to become a "hero" or a celebrity like her. Of course, Hunters being what they are, only few of them, somewhere around one out of hundred, actually make through the selection and training process each year. Some went as far as to fake their diploma, and faking transcripts have become a small industry of its own. Perhaps this explains the increased death rate among Hunters, forcing major training academies, such as Beacon, to take increasingly extreme screening procedures.

Many active-duty Hunters embraced this development, rejoicing at the sheer increase in number of potential Hunters. Not all of them view this development in positive light, however. Many senior Hunters lament at the plethora of applicants taking shots at joining their ranks, only for the sake of fame. They blame Jägermärchen for the lack of professionalism among newly christened Hunters.

One recently retired Hunter says "We are warriors, not a bunch of celebrities with a color themed names and cool mix-and-match weapons. It's not just fun and adventures as depicted in some Blossom books. It's a dangerous work and people frequently get hurt and die, often in the most degrading and anticlimactic ways possible, no matter how hard you train and how strong your weapons are. If you are not prepared for those kinds of hardship, you shouldn't think about being a Hunter. Before you even ask, no, you are _not_ prepared. I've seen so many Hunters who only realized that when Grimms' teeth sink into their body."

-From _Not an Easy Road, or Why Hunters are Dying _by Hesse Kassel.

* * *

Under the Ashen Sky

Prologue - Fuchsia

Hot wind swept through the street of a residential district of the Vale City. Despite being early in the fall, such thing was not a rare thing, due to heat-retaining nature of the street. That part of the street on that day, however, was hotter than usual, due to an old, wooden residential building being engulfed by a scorching fire. Fire danced wildly, threatening to devour any unfortunate souls stuck inside, as well as other, equally old, buildings next to it.

Many people, including both the escaped residents of the building and people who were passing by, were watching the scene, with varied actions. For the most part, though, it was either a complete desperation, from the residents, and an anxiety mixed with amusement, from the passerby.

"Goddamn it, where are the firemen?!"

"Damned if I know, something to do with traffic jam, oh God, the kids!"

No matter what was going on through despairing residents' minds, ever stronger blaze of fire stopped them from taking any actions about it. For them, the occasional screaming coming out from the building were nightmare themselves. Even the most cynical among them found themselves looking for a hero. No matter how hard they wished, though, no such person would appear.

People that were passing by were simply watching, not doing anything as well, but for different reason. To start most of them didn't have anyone they knew in the building and thus no obligation to take action. In addition, just like how it was for the residents, the fire was simply too great. The compassionate ones were hoping for heroes, cursing their lack of will and bravery. The cynical ones did as well, but to see someone trying to be a hero and fail.

Cutting through this ring of inaction was one particular girl with a fuchsia colored hair, with a bright orange flower as a hairpin. On her way to visit her family, the sight of people gathering caught her purple eyes. Wondering if something was wrong, she changed her course. As she dashed towards the crowd, her hair and hooded jacket, resembling a modification of a lab coat, fluttered in the wind. Once she saw the violent fire, her heart skipped a beat.

"No…no way."

She wobbled as strength of her leg about to leave her. She did not have anyone she knew in the building. However, she well knew exactly what it felt like being trapped inside such a place, under the fear of raging fire and threat of being swallowed by ashes . Her entire body shook as the memory from her childhood overtook her. Maybe…just maybe, she should just walk away.

_I mean…yeah, those people are unfortunate, but…it's not like I can do anything…Yeah…let's walk away while I can. _

Hesitantly, she moved her feet towards her original destination. Heavily, she started to walk away from the scene.

"Please honey, stop!"

There was a struggle between a man and a woman.

"No, I won't! Our boy is trapped there, he isn't going to rescue himself!" The woman wailed, trying to get her husband out of her way, but with no avail.

"I know how you feel, I want to save him too! But if you enter, firemen will have to rescue you too, and for God's sake, will you please stop!" The husband tried to restrain her, who only started to struggle harder.

"No, damn it, just move! MOVE!"

"Damn it honey, be reasonable!"

Their desperate sounds failed to escape her ears, and succeeded in pinning her in the spot. She looked at the parents' direction, her hands shivering and her eyes shaking. Biting her lips, she quickly moved to a secluded corner between buildings.

Making sure no one was there to see her, she crouched down and opened up a pouch on her waist. Then she pulled out a pink weighted knuckle glove that went almost up to her left elbow, with a barely visible hole on the wrist. From the same pouch, she retrieved a small plastic case. Upon opening, the case revealed two empty syringes and four vials, two containing yellow liquid and two containing grey.

She took a syringe took in grey liquid from one of the vials until it contained just the right amount of the liquid. As she looked both at the syringe and the little hole in her glove, she took a deep breath, to calm her breath.

Then she injected herself with the grey liquid in the left wrist.

"Hpf!"

She grunted as the grey liquid started to flow through her body. For a second, her head fely hazy, with her veins and arteries feeling as if they were going to explode. Nauseous feeling filled her stomach and she had to resist her urge to throw up her lunch. Even trapped under her glove, there was a faint glow of grey light that outlined it, in the shape of her veins. Then she activated her Semblance, causing it to disappear.

_Well, no turning back now._

She took a deep breath to calm her heart again. Unstable heartbeat would only cause adverse reactions. In brisk steps, she walked towards the parents.

"Excuse me, sir? Maam?"

"Yes, what is it?" The parents answered in the same time, although the woman's voice sounding a little bit shakier.

"Your son, where did you say he was trapped in?"

Initially they just looked at each other, unable to comprehend the situation.

"Wait…what are you asking that for?"

"Hi. My name is Fuksia Larrey. I'm the one who will get your son out."

She said it as bluntly as she could, hiding her fear, hoping that they didn't notice her shaky legs.

At this bold statement, the parents kept on staring at each other in confusion. Then an uncertain hope flickered in their eyes, and their eyes turned to her.

"He's trapped in the second floor, in room 206. He is a fox Faunus, so look for the ears." At this she checked the parents, but as far as she could tell, both of them were just humans.

"Please, are you going to…save him? Can you do it?"

"Yes. Yes I will. Don't worry, I got this!"

_Oh gosh, what am I doing, please Fuko, just stop when you can! Darn it, why aren't you stopping?! _

Fuko ran towards the building, her shaky legs surprisingly not betraying her. When the fire burned suddenly hotter, the fire almost touching her, she fell on her butt. Her purple eyes stared at the fire, fear displacing the fake confidence she briefly had.

_It's not too late, just walk away! I mean, who are going to blame you? I mean, aside from the parents. Oh crud, I gave them my names, didn't I? Why, Fuko, why?! _

Her head turned around and she found that the parents weren't the only one staring at her. Most people's eyes were on her, some even had their phones out, obviously filming. If she didn't succeed, those people with camera, who could never bother themselves to be actively involved in the scene, would probably post the video on video sharing sites, with the title being something along the line of "Fire rescue fail".

There were many people looking at her. If she failed, she would be a laughing stock for sure. However, if she pulled it off, she would be a hero. She would actually get recognition. It was simply not an opportunity she could let pass. Drawing (or faking, she couldn't really tell) confidence and courage once again, she entered the fiery building, her glove covering her mouth.

Once inside in the building, sheer amount of smoke in the lobby blocked her path. Black cloud threatened to blind and suffocate her. She remembered reading that the smoke was the biggest cause of death in indoor fire. If she wanted to advance any further and do anything, she would have to deal with the smoke first.

With a snap of her left fingers, she shot out a quick gust of wind from her fingers. The wind blew away the smoke from the entire lobby and cleared the path. Before the smoke returned, she quickly ran inside, looking for the nearest stairways. Even with the smoke gone, because of the heavy heat, navigation still proved to be hard.

Luckily, before smoke filled the place again, she managed to find a door to the stairways. Avoiding touching the doorknob with her unprotected right palm, she opened it with her left hand. As soon as she opened the door, a wave of heat blew at her.

"Ahk!"

Fuko stumbled back, covering her face. Although not as badly as in the lobby, the stairway was on fire as well. Initially, she considered finding another stairway. However, the smoke returned and filled the lobby again. She figured that, at this rate, running around the place trying to find another stairway would only get her injured. Since the stairway was only partially filled with fire, she decided to take her chance.

Recollecting her nerve, she shot another gust and cleared the path, running up the stairs. The force that pushed her up the stairs did not allow her to stop, even when she found herself running through a flame. Upon reaching the entrance of the second floor, she hit the door with her whole body, slamming it open.

_Okay, okay, okayokayokay, I'm on the second floor, and…and…HOLY CRAP I'M ON FIRE! _

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! Get off, get off, GET OFF!"

When she realized that a sleeve of her jacket was on fire, she violently slapped at it, to the point of hurting her arm. When that didn't work, she rolled around the floor until finally putting it off. Confirming that the fire was gone, she took a shaky breath. That was far too close. Only then it came to her mind that she should probably take off the hairpin from her hair and put in her pocket. It was just too valuable to risk having it destroyed.

No longer on fire, she assessed the situation with (only slightly) calmer mind. The second floor had more flames than smoke, which made things easier, but not by a lot. She shot a gust to clear an entire path and ran through the hallway, only to see room numbers over 210 and running back the other way.

On the way, she saw a few people collapsed on the hallway, one even partially on fire with a fire extinguisher in his hand. When finally found the Room 206 and tried to turn the doorknob (with her left hand, of course), she found it jammed. Her throat felt as dry as a pipe of sand.

_Why, of all time? No, I'm not going to stop just here!_

Thinking quickly, she quickly went to the man with a fire extinguisher and went for his feet. She took the socks off of him and wrapped her right hand with it, before taking the fire extinguisher from his hand. Then she started to hit the door hinges until they were loose, and kicked the door open.

Once inside, she tried to use the fire extinguisher, only to find it empty. That might have explained why that side of the hallway had a lot less fire compared to the other side. Throwing the extinguisher away, she looked for places that children and small animals might hide themselves during fire (and die): wardrobes and under the beds.

Fortunately, searching for the child became a lot easier when she heard a weak but audible sound of a child's cry, coming from the bedroom. Upon entering the room, she found a pair of fearful eyes glowing under the bed, just as she expected. Noticing her, the child peaked his head out of the bed, if only by a little bit. She could see little brown vulpine ears twitching on his head.

In spite of the situation, she couldn't help but finding a fearful child, one with fox ears at that, so utterly adorable. With her protective instincts fueled, Fuko called out to the child the warmest and the most calming way she could manage.

"Hey kid, it's all right. You are safe now."

"Who…who are you?" The child spoke out in a feeble name.

"I'm Fuko. I'm here to get you out of here."

"But…but there is fire outside! We'll burn!"

Fuchsia haired girl sighed. He was not going to make things easy, was he? Then again, children tended to be scared. Considering even adults get scared in this kind of situation, she could not blame him. Still, she would have to convince him anyway.

"Don't worry, I can…uh…make fire go away. It's my superpower!"

"Uh…what?"

"I was actually down at the street, I climbed all the way up here to save you. You can trust me, my parents sent me, after all." This got the child's attention.

"Do you know where mom and dad are?"

"Of course! They are outside, waiting for me to pick you up. Come on, let's go, okay?"

"…Okay." With that he crawled out from the bed.

_Finally! _

"Let's go!"

Fuko grabbed the boy's end quickly led him out the house. Both of them flinched as they found the fire at the hallway grown even bigger. She silently cursed herself; it was evident that her wind shots have fanned the flame, although she couldn't be sure to what degree. Not only she made her escape more complicated, she probably endangered other people who were still in the building.

No time to weigh in the consequences of her action, though. Gulping, she patted now shivering child's on the head.

"It's all right, all right. Let's get out because this fire becomes even stronger."

Almost immediately after taking a step at the hallway she came through before, the hallway collapsed with a sick crunch of the wooden floor and both of them fell to the first floor.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Both of them screamed as they fell. Right before touching the ground, Fuko pulled the child to her bosom and flipped around, so they would land on her back. They landed with a thud, with child using Fuko's body as a cushion.

Because of the impact, her world momentarily went white and then black. Heat surrounding them made her head a drowsy, but also made her eyes open up again, even though all she saw was haze. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself back in clear consciousness again. The first thing she saw upon opening her eyes was the squirming child, his faced buried between her ample breasts. It was as if he didn't realize that they stopped falling. Smiling, she nudged him.

"Hey, kid, wake up."

At this the kid perked up and looked at her eyes. Then he realized that he was burying his face on her bosom and quickly got up.

"Argh, I'm sorry!"

"It's all right, all right. Are you hurt?"

"Uhm…I'm okay, thanks to you."

"Good! We are on the first floor, so we are almost there. Come on!"

They moved through the first floor's hallway, Fuko shooting blasts of wind here and there to make the path. Even with those, though, sheer amount of fire and smoke were too much for her to handle. Taking her jacket off, she covered the child, taking extra care that his mouth is covered that he wouldn't inhale smoke.

Just when they were about to enter the lobby, a whole chunk of the second floor fell down on them. Concentrating the Dust in her bloodstream, she shot a particularly strong and concentrated current of wind, cutting up the floor in much smaller chunks. The one that fell on them were then just small enough that Fuko could block it with her glove.

When they entered the lobby, they found the place to be filled with smoke and fire. The exit, in particular, was completely shut off with raging fire. Even if she managed to blow off all the smoke, she would end up fanning the flame further. They tried to go back to the hallway, only to have a pile of debris falling and blocking the path.

"Fuko, what now?!" The child asked in now even more desperate voice. She was grateful that he didn't start to panic, just like what she felt like doing at that moment. Gulping, she once again tried to put an air of confidence, without satisfying result.

"Uh…I don't know, let…let me think."

_Come on, come on, think! I'm too close to fail! Oh God, I'm so going to fail, am I not? Why did I even try, no, no, no, I can still do it! I just need to…need to…Wait…hang on, I could try that. Yeah, that would work! I am not sure if I have enough control, but it's not like I have much option here, is it? _

"Okay, here goes nothing."

Mixing with her Aura, he channeled the Dust to both of her hands and emitted grey light that started to cover the smoke. Taking a deep breath, she moved her hands, and the smoke moved as well. Then she started to cover the fire with the smoke, reasoning that if she could suffocate the flame with the smoke, it would probably die off. Flame moved around as if it was resisting, but it gave in and was smothered, clearing the path.

"…Wow." The child looked Fuko with eyes full of wonder.

"See? I told you I could do it, I know what I'm doing."

_Holy crap, I totally didn't expect that to work! _

Of course, it was only the entrance that was free, and the fire around them was still intact.

"Run!"

As soon as they started the mad dash towards the entrance, a debris fell on Fuko's head, knocking her unconscious.

_No! I was so close…just a little…further… _

Against her wish, her mind went dark.

* * *

Her eyes opened up. The first thing she saw was a blurry figure with a thick mustache in yellow asking her questions.

"Hey, are you okay? Who are you and how old are you?"

"Uh…uh….my…my name is Fuksia…Larrey. I'm…19."

"Yeah, she's conscious, all right. Somebody get her some water and see if she needs any further medical assistance. Come on, move!"

The man commanded other firemen and one of them came his way.

"On it. Here is some water."

"Thank you." She took the bottle of water the fireman gave her and took some sips with a little bit of difficulty.

"You are made of hard stuff, aren't you? You got knocked in the head and woke up in less than five minutes."

"I did…? Oh…that's…I see…wait! What happened to him?"

"Him? Who are you talking about?"

"That Faunus child, the one with fox ears?"

"Oh, him? Yeah, that kid is something all right, he dragged you out of the building. That kid is a hero, I tell you."

"What?! Is he all right?"

"He suffered a second degree burn on parts of his left arm. Still, that was only a pretty small area of his body, probably less than 9% of his skin. It shouldn't take more than three weeks to heal."

"I…I see. What about everyone else in the building?"

"Well, the rescue is in progress. I don't know how, but apparently after you got into the building, the fire got even worse for the most parts. Good thing that he took you out of it quickly."

Her heart sank upon hearing it, and buried her face in her trembling hands. Just…how many people, including the Faunus Child, did she endanger just because of her reckless desire for heroism and recognition? She was no hero at all; if nothing else, she was a criminal. She shook so hard that she had to bite her thumb to calm herself down. The fireman wasn't paying attention at her at that moment, because she had no idea how she was explain her behavior at that moment.

Once she calmed her conscience, if only bit a little bit, she stood up and tried to find the child and his parents. Then nausea and dizziness from injecting the Dust solution straight into her veins attacked, causing her to fall on her knees again. The fireman was immediately at her and helped her up.

"Hey, are you all right? Do you need any medical assistance?"

"No, no! I'm all right, don't worry about me. It's just…my condition."

Upon activating her Semblance, which went unnoticed to the fireman, the unpleasant sensation instantly went away. She stood back up, dusting herself.

"See? All fine."

The fireman wanted object, but withheld. At least from the outside, there was no sign of any medical problem. Seasoned medical professionals _might_ spot it, but the he was a young man who just entered the firefighting business. And eying her just a bit.

"I…see."

"Sir, do you know where the parents of that child are?"

"Yeah, I think they are right over that ambulance. Hey, if you got time-"

"Thank you."

Ignoring the obvious attempts at flirting, she walked towards where he pointed. When she found the parents, with the child probably in the ambulance, she initially stopped in her track, wondering if she could face them after what she had done.

_They are probably furious at me, getting their child burnt. Why did I even bother? It's clear that I didn't have what it took. That kid was the hero, and I was, in the end, just a burden. That's what I really am, no matter how hard I try to deny. _

Clenching her fists, she stopped in her track. She bit her lips and turned away, intending to walk away from them, and the whole scene altogether.

"Hey wait!" A voice stopped her in the spot. She kept walking anyway; they could mean someone else. Possibly.

"Ms. Larrey!"

Well. Darn.

When she turned, she saw something that she definitely did not want to; the parents running towards her direction. Before she could even consider running away, they were already in front of her. Gulping, she prepared herself for the inevitable.

"Thank you so much!" The mother said.

That was not quite what she was expecting.

"What? I didn't save him…I ended up needing to be saved myself…" Fuko meekly answered.

"To be honest, that's what we thought as well."

"I wasn't." The mother disagreed.

"Yes, you were. Anyway, our son told us what happened. If it wasn't for you, he would have eventually died under that bed." The father said, respect evident in his smiling face.

"Is…is that so? I…see, then…I'm just glad that he's safe." As she spoke, she couldn't look them in their faces.

How could she, when she didn't try to save him because she cared about lives, but because the recognition of the hero was the only thing she really wanted?

"I'm sorry about not doing better. I mean…I still got him burnt."

"Hahahahah!" The father patted her in the arm as he jovially laughed. "He's sneaky as a fox. Just a little burn won't get him. At least, that's what he said."

"Well, it's quite a burn, but he's been through worse. He's a very strong kid, we know that he will be all right."

Fuko just looked at the confident parents, before asking something that had been bugging her.

"Say, may I ask you a question?"

"Hmm? Yes, sure. What is it?" The mother replied.

"Well…you see…as far as I can tell, both of you are human. But your child…he's a Faunus, isn't he?"

"Oh? Oh! Why yes, you are correct." The father nodded.

"He is not our biological child, obviously. It's a pretty long story, but we somehow ended up taking him in our house. Now, we don't really care about him being a Faunus, really. I mean, okay, it did bother us in the beginning, but we grew over that idea. So we are of different species, but what about it? We are still family. We love him, he loves us, and that's all it really matters, is it not?"

"Okay, okay, that's enough, honey. No need to spout a speech about acceptance to a stranger. I'm sorry, she says this whenever anyone brings up his heritage."

"Stranger? Honey, she saved him! That makes her our honorary family member!"

"Yeah, I'm _pretty sure_ she will find that notion comfortable." The father replied, rolling his eyes.

As Fuko looked at the parents' banter, her heart was pierced by a agonizing pang of jealousy, directed towards the child. Not only he got to become a hero, she just learned that he had exactly what she wanted for all her life. She bit her lips, to the point of drawing a little bit of blood. It was evident that she had to leave, before she would have to confront her pettiness, before anyone could what she was really like.

_This is why I can never be a real hero. The child…his parents…they are more of heroes than I could ever hope to be. _

"Well, it's nice to hear that he's all right. I en-uh, admire your relationship with…what's his name?"

"Reynard. Nice name, no?"

"It sounds like a _very_ appropriate name." Maybe a little bit _too_ appropriate. "Anyhow, I need to get going. I hope Reynard gets better, give him my regards!"

"Wait, can you stay a little bit? We want to…I don't know, treat you to a coffee or something."

"Honey, she has somewhere to go, and our house just got burnt down. We _might_ have a different priority right now."

"It's quite all right, I assure you. I hope things go well with you."

Without any further ado, she briskly walked away from the scene. The longer he stayed, the more she would hurt. Of course, it wasn't to say that her destination was a particularly warm place.

* * *

She arrived at the affluent neighborhood of the city, stopping at a tall, luxurious building, with the appearance of a smaller five-star hotel. When she entered the building, there were even guards, one of whom apparently tried to flirt with her, to whom she showed her entrance card to get through. There was something about the place that made her feel so inadequate.

Once she rode the elevator, it started to play a soothing, yet at the same time annoying music until it reached the top floor. The whole floor was essentially once apartment. When she entered the apartment using her key, the sheer size and splendor of the place awed her.

When she pressed the bell with a shaky finger, someone came out for her without even asking for her identity. Opening the door was a short girl of about 14, with auburn hair and green eyes. Smile plastered on her freckled face made Fuko forgot about all the negative feelings she had that day, and immediately hugged her.

"Hey, little sis! It's so good to see you again!"

"Same here! Here, come on in!"

The younger girl led Fuko into the house. The floor was covered in high quality woods, interior decorated with white statues and chandelier, and wide windows gave the view of the entire city below. She always wondered how much it cost to get a place like that in this part of the city. Probably more than she could ever imagine.

"It has been, what, whole two years since the last time you visited here, isn't it? I mean, you used to visit us every summer for years, but you just…stopped coming. That was just so…strange! What happened? I asked you over the email, but you would never talk about that! You did graduate from Sanctum a while ago, right? So what's your plan now? Does that mean you are a Hunter now? Will you be kicking some butt, taking names and such? Are you going to leave Val-"

"Whoa there, little sis, one question at a time." Fuko laughed at the little girl's barrage of questions.

"Right, right, I just got too excited to see you, you know? Hey, wanna get something to drink? Mom just got some tea imported straight from the east and really good cake."

"No, no, that will be all right. Thanks for the offer, though."

"Let me guess, you are _still_ on diet, aren't you? I don't get it, you already got a body that those magazine girls would kill for, I mean, serio-"

"Allie, I was _never_ on diet. The physical requirement in Sanctum makes sure that I don't need any."

Fuko shuddered, reminiscing about intense physical training regimens back in Sanctum, ones that never _allowed_ anyone to have excess fat. In fact, all the students barely made through them. Well, except one girl, but she was pretty exceptional in every way, so no point of bringing her up.

"Really? I was under the impression you did. Oh well. Say, what happened to your hairpin?"

"That? Oh, it's in my pocket. I forgot to put it back on."

"Really? That's odd. I never saw you taking off, except during shower. Something happened?"

"Oh, I was…well, did you hear about the fire in the commercial district?"

"Yeah, I just heard. Hang on…are you the girl who went in to rescue, only to be needing to be rescued herself?"

At this blunt statement, Fuko hung her head down.

"Yes…yes I am…How did you know?"

"Just saw the news, and I think I saw someone who looked like you."

"I feel so embarrassed…"

"Oh, don't blame yourself. It's your intention that matters. I think you did great! You know the old saying; it's better to try and fail, than to never try at all and just watch like a total jackass." That was probably not how it went, but Fuko did not try to correct her.

"You…you think so? Thanks."

"I believe in you. It's not like you were endangering yourself and possibly others just so you could be a hero."

_Funny you should say that… _

"Anyhow, what brought you here today? Are you going to stay in the town for a bit? I hope you did."

"I just wanted to give you this."

Fuko dug into her pouch and took out a wide rectangular object wrapped in a pink and scarlet gift wrap. Enthusiastically, Allie opened it up, revealing a book with a red haired girl on the cover.

"No_._" The younger girl replied with widened eyes.

"Yes."

"_No._"

"Limited edition, written and signed by Pyrrha Nikos herself. Did I mention it includes her new pictures?

"How? How did you get this? This one has been sold out months ago!"

"I did go to same school with her, remember? It wasn't easy, but I got it. Happy Birthday, Allie."

Pyrrha pretty much never talked about whatever she did outside the school, rather uncomfortable with her popularity. In fact, there were even some students, mostly those who didn't eat cereals, who never knew about her celebrity status until the graduation ceremony. It was something that Fuko never understood, but at the same time respected.

"Oh, thank you so much! This is by far the best gift I've gotten yet!" The younger girl let out an excited sound, hugging the book to her chest.

"Good to see that you liked it. I mean, like you said, this is the first time I'm visiting here in years, so I should get something good, no? Besides, it's my favorite little sister's birthday, I shouldn't settle for anything less than the best, should I?"

"Oh, stop, you are spoiling me. Okay, I just sounded like mom, like, wow. Speaking of which, I don't know why mom and most of my relatives hate you so much. I guess my dad likes you and he-"

"Allie, stop."

The younger girl was about to continue on, then she saw her foster sister looking pale and shaking. She was in what appeared to be a mixture of fear and shame, traces of tear about to form in the edges of her eyes.

"Fuko…? Are you all right?"

Fuchsia colored girl just kept on shaking, and it took a while to collect her calm.

"I'm…I'm all right. Just…do me a favor, don't mention him…and them. At least…not now."

"All right. Sorry about that. So…uh...are you going to stay around for a bit? We got things to catch up."

"As much as I would love to, believe me I really do, but I better get going. You know, before your mother arrives."

"You mean, _our_ mom?"

"Allie…I know you are a smart girl. You know that you are the only one in this whole family that treats me like one. I've been the nicest "daughter" I could be for years, and will continue to be so in the future, but…I don't know…was I not trying hard enough? Then there was the time I came here two years ago and…"

"And what? What happened?"

"You know what, never mind. I should get going. Take care, sis."

"Wait, Fuko!"

Despite the younger girl's pleas, Fuko hurried towards the door. Just as when she opened it, however, there was a familiar face. She was a lady in her 40s with the same auburn hair like Allie, wearing expensive clothes and purse. The lady initially looked at Fuko with a surprise, but her eyes soon emitted venom. Fuchsia haired girl nearly experienced the fear that she experienced in that burning building.

"He…hello, mothe-I mean, Mrs-"

A sharp sound of slap tore through the apartment.

The slap caused Fuko to stagger, and it wasn't from the physical impact.

"Mom! What the Hell?!"

"My husband is not here, you slut." The older lady quietly spoke, venom in her voice spreading through Fuko's body.

"What? But, but, but…it wasn't…it wasn't my…"

"Get out. _Now_." The older lady's voice started to increase in volume and sharper in pitch.

"Right! Uh, Allie, it was nice seeing-"

"What part of 'now' don't you understand, get out!"

The foster mother grabbed Fuko by her hair and threw her out of the apartment. Then she took out a small gun from her purse and took an aim at her. Panicked, she dashed towards the elevator. When she frantically pressed the buttons, a bullet hit the door of the elevator. Turning around, she saw the older lady running towards her, the gun pointed at her.

"Get over here, you bitch!" Her foster mother screeched, apparently forgetting that she just told her to get out of the apartment.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Fuko cried and ran towards the stairway instead. Because of her frantic mind, she took a wrong step and fell down the stairs. It was not bad enough to cause her any permanent damage. However, it did just enough damage to prevent her from standing back up right away, while her foster mother aimed the gun at her. Just when she could pull the trigger, Allie came up right behind and restrained her.

"Fuko, go!"

"Let me go, Allie, I'm going to give her what she deserves!"

"Last time I checked, a bullet to the head is not considered affection!"

"Why you little…YOU! That was a warning shot, the next time you show up, there won't be any!"

"Are you insane?! Fuko, run!"

"Thanks, Allie!"

Thanking her foster sister, she ran down the stairs with all her might. When she almost reached the first floor, she stopped and sat down on the stair. Tears flowed down her face, as if someone threw ashes at her purple eyes. Making sure that no one was around to hear, she hugged her knees and quietly sobbed.

* * *

Once she stopped sobbing, she wiped her eyes and calmly walked out of the building. With tired steps and wandering eyes, she aimlessly walked around. She could probably do a bit of sightseeing, maybe hang around the city library for a while. As she saw people passing by, some of them in groups, she realized how utterly alone she was. What was she even doing there?

She wanted some recognition, but ended up only embarrassing herself. She tried to get some warmth, but ended up only reminding herself how unwelcome she was. If she wanted rest and tried to kill herself, she would probably fail that as well. Sure, she got into the prestigious Beacon Academy, but was it really through her skills or did she just get lucky? Would she be accepted there, or was it simply a laughable dream?

Would anybody ever want her?

"Excuse me, miss?" A slightly raspy voice called out.

When she turned around, she saw a young man in a slate colored jacket. He appeared much younger than his voice suggested, although his grey hair made him look older again.

"I believe you dropped this."

Then she started to wonder how she dropped it; nothing ever fell from her pocket, primarily because of it having a flap. Then again, stranger things happened, and it wasn't as if she never made any mistakes.

"Oh God…thank you!"

On his silver glove was her hairpin. Fuko hurriedly took the hairpin from his hand and put it back on her pocket. Just when she was about to thank him again and go on her way, he moved on close to her.

"Come on, how about we go grab a coffee? You look like you…need _company_."

The young man pronounced the latter two words in different nuances.

"What? No, I don't need it, but thanks for your concern."

"Please, I insist. It is on me. My name is Shepherd, Shepherd Slate, by the way. What is yours?"

"Me? Uh…Fuksia Larrey."

"What a lovely name! I know a good place near here and I am just going to take ten minutes of your time. No strings attached, I assure you."

He put his hands on her back and started to lead her. Initially she was going to just resist it, but something about his smile and confidence captivated her and she followed along.

In less than five minutes, they arrived at a small café. Inside, they took a seat that was close to the entrance, but far away from the window, with Shepherd's seat facing the entrance. For some reason, they were the only ones in the place.

"It's…certainly quiet here."

"Why indeed it is. I can guarantee the quality, I assure you. How about caramel macchiato? It might be a little bit sweet, but it does wonder to a troubled heart."

"Uhm…yeah, I will take it." Fuko stared at him, wondering how he figured it out.

"Most splendid. I will be right back."

He went to order his beverages. She couldn't help but wondering the way he kept glancing towards the entrance. Curious, she looked at the entrance, but saw no one. Shrugging, she turned to the interiors of the place. Green wallpaper with a flower patterned decorations. Within a minute, he sat at the table, with their beverage. He handed her the macchiato and he was having what she assumed was a green tea.

"Thank you for waiting, here you go."

"Thanks."

Opening the lid, Fuko let the aroma of the coffee blow into her nose. Drawn to its pleasantness, she took a sip, and its warmth and sweetness filled her tense body and helped it relax. She took another sip and put it down, sighing contently.

"How do you like it?"

"It's good. Really good. You know, maybe I really did need this."

"Really? To be honest, I was just taking a shot in the dark."

"It was a pretty accurate one, I'd say."

"Glad to know that. So, what's your business here in Vale?"

"Well…I will be entering Beacon in days, so I figured I might as well as pay my fam-uhm, sister a visit. Nothing too interesting, really." Fuko took another sip from her cup.

Then Shepherd's eyes widened and he suddenly stood up, slamming the tables with his palms, staring at her. This had a side effect of causing her to spill the coffee on her clothes and slightly burn her tongues.

"Beacon? Did you just say Beacon?!"

"Uh…yes?"

"Oh goodness, that means you are going to be a Hunter!" He did not make any attempt to hide his excitement.

"Correct?"

"I can't imagine what it must be like one. It must be amazing. Oh…uh…oh my, sorry about the spill. The restroom is right over there. I think if you wash it now, you might erase it."

"Right."

With that she went to the restroom. She found it interesting how quite things became once she closed the doors. As she was washing the stains, she did hear some curious sound of grunting and furniture crashing. Initially she tried to ignore it, but quickly wrapped up the washing and went out to see what's going on.

There was Shepherd, sitting in his seat and sipping his tea. Around the table next to him, though, there were four guys sprawled all over, half of them collapsed on the table, and other half on the floor. They were either groaning or simply unconscious. When she squinted, she could even see some broken pieces of furniture.

"Hey, Ms. Larrey. Did you manage to get the stain off?"

"Uh…" She checked her clothes. "I'm not sure. I think I will be fine."

"Oh God, I'm so sorry. Here, this for the laundry."

Shepherd apologized, handing her a couple of Lien bills.

"No, that won't be necessary."

"Please, if nothing else, do it for me. For my conscience?"

This had an effect of pausing her. Reluctantly, she took the bills. She wondered if she was imagining the testing look in his eyes.

"Well…okay?"

"Thank you. Again, I am so sorry."

"It's all right, really. By the way, what just happened here?"

"Oh, these people? I have no idea, these men…just stumbled in. They suddenly found themselves in a fight, with one gentleman pulling out a knife and one even got his head smashed with a chair. I believe at least one of them was a substance abuser. It was a quite a spectacle, I must say."

"Uh...huh?"

" It is a normal occurrence, so do not pay it much mind. That is the thing about this café, it draws curious people."

"Like you?"

"Oh please, I am a man whose existence is cursed with perpetual dullness."

"If you say so."

For a while, they just kept on drinking their beverages. Fuko noticed that Shepherd finished drinking his tea pretty quickly, even though she only saw him sipping his drink only few times. Putting his empty cup down, Shepherd asked her another question.

"Say, what is with that hairpin of yours?"

"What? What about it?"

"Why are you keeping it in your pocket, instead of wearing it? Is it part of the new fashion, because I am not quite up to date with it."

"Oh, this. Well…do you want me to wear it?"

The question caused him to raise his eyebrow.

"Uh…sure? I mean it is yours, so do whatever you want with it."

"Okay, then."

She took out the orange flower hairpin and put it on her fuchsia hair. When she saw Shepherd, his eyes and mouth were widened.

"…Wow. That…makes you look…a lot better."

"Why, thank you." The way he stuttered made her giggle.

"Is it a gift from your parents?" Now it was her turn to have Shepherd's reaction.

"…How did you know?"

"Well…firstly, I can see the wear on it, which stands out in comparison to your new clothes. I assume that it is worn because how often you touched it. Also, the whole thing is made of very fine but strong fabric and adorned with some jewelry. I highly doubt that you had any friend that age who could afford something like that."

"Oh? That's…an interesting chain of thinking. Accurate, too. Wait, was it one of your shot in the dark too?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. Lady Fortune certainly smiles upon me today! I should considering buying a lottery or two on the way."

"You probably should. Yeah, this is my dad's gift to my mom, who then gave it to me. It's not a family heirloom or anything, but it's really important to me."

"I see. I must say, that hairpin makes you look really stunning. I mean, you already were, but…uh…actually, forget I said that."

"Make me." Fuko smiled, which Shepherd returned. There were a slight bit of blush on both of their faces, which they tried to ignore.

As she finished her macchiato, she examined him. Upon a glance, he looked like an unremarkable person, the kind who could easily hide in the plain sight should he need to. However, something about the mixture of his assertiveness and awkwardness, and the intriguing quality in his eyes caught her interest. Besides, he was not bad looking at all. Come to think of it, she didn't have much planned for the afternoon, did she?

"Hey, Shepherd, are you free this afternoon?"

_Come on, please say yes!_

"Alas, I am not. I have a partner to meet up."

"Oh." She tried to not to show her disappointment, without much success.

"Quite a pity, indeed. Originally I was, but there was…a change of plan. You can never predict how things are, with my line of business."

"Business?" This made Fuko raise her eyebrows. He didn't look like a businessman. "How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I recently turned 20. You are entering Beacon, so I assume you are 17?"

"Uh…I'm 19, actually."

"Really? I guess that explains."

"Explain what?"

"Uh...nothing."

"Okay…? Oh, and what kind of business are you in?"

"I am a security consultant, working for Schnee Dust Company. It's an interesting business, if nothing else."

"Ooh, I see. You already got a nice job. I'm actually a bit jealous now." Fuko joked.

"Oh, only if you knew." Shepherd chuckled. "Well, I must get going, I need to get to the other side of the city. It was nice meeting you, Ms. Larrey."

"Please, call me Fuko."

"As you wish, Fuko. Oh, and can you take this ticket?" Shepherd handed her a ticket.

"What is this?"

"That would be a ticket to a play, this afternoon. Thanks to the plan change, I will have no use with it. I just wanted you to have it, in case you are interested."

"Oh, thanks?"

"You are welcome, enjoy it for my stead. Or you can just throw it away, if you are not into those. Well, I must say farewell, and please, do stay in the safe side." With that he slowly walked out of the café.

"Uh…right."

Right after he left the door, something hit her: there were several things that were just off about him.

"Wait!"

When she walked out of the café, however, she could not find him. It wasn't as if the café was in the middle of a crossroad, there weren't more than two ways he could go. He wasn't running either. And yet she just couldn't find him, as if he simply disappeared into the thin air.

"…What?"

As she scratched her head in confusion, her hand touched the hairpin. She remembered her parents and what Shepherd commented about it. When she looked at the ticket, it was a play that was an adaptation of a Jägermärchen. Even though most of the events that day pierced her heart with bitterness, she couldn't help but smiling. With confident steps and clenched fist, she headed towards the theatre the play was on.

No matter how often she was rejected in her house and Sanctum, she earned her spot in Beacon. There, she was going to be a real hero, not a little girl desperate for acceptance.

_To Be Continued _


	4. Rufous

AN: This will be the last (full-chaptered) OC introduction, which means, from next chapter and on, I can _finally _cover the canon events! Ladies and gentleman, the exceedingly long prologue is finally coming to an end.

This chapter contains another short fight scene. For those of you who likes to listen to music while reading, recommended music is _Rush_, from Cowboy Bebop.

As always, reviews are appreciated, because they help me keep on writing and improve my writing. :D

Without further ado, enjoy.

Opening Theme – _Deus Non Vult _

* * *

Under the Ashen Sky

Prologue – Rufous

When people think of Hunter, the first thing that come to their mind would be their impossibly bizarre weapon combinations, such as sniper-scythe, grenade launcher-hammer, shotgun – nunchuck/staff, and mac-cheese (it was more likely than one thought). It was probably due to the fact that most Hunters, the ones that tended become renowned, were from Beacon Academy, and most of their students come from Signal Academy.

Signal Academy encouraged, if not outright mandated, its students to design their own weapons. And the students being who they were; excitable teenagers with unlimited creativity, the world saw some truly interesting sets of weapons. In fact, it was to the point of students having annual competition on who could come up with the most "interesting" weapons, with varied results.

However, as all engineers knew; the more complicated a machine was, the more possible points of failure there were. Signal students' weapons tended to be _very_ complicated. The academy's curriculum includes how to maintain one's weapons and to design them so they wouldn't need much maintenance at the first place.

Unfortunately, pragmatism was more often than not thrown out for the favor of aesthetics. As such, many students needed maintenance, and some mechanically savvy students formed WWC, Weapon Workshop Club, a faculty-sanctioned organization that was focused on helping students design and repair their weapons.

One particular student graduating that year, the president of the club, was a particularly notable one.

"And…this should about do it."

A tall girl with a reddish brown hair and dark green eyes handed a student his weapon back after checking its firing mechanism one last time.

"Thanks, Rufus!"

"No problem. Just make sure to fire in bursts. What did I say going full auto is?"

"Full retard."

"Don't you ever forget that. All right, move along."

As the student laughed, Rufus Tesla sank on her chair, resting her quite muscular arms. She sighed, exhaustion of the whole day weighing upon her body. The faint light of the machine shop made the sweat on her brows and hands glisten and reflect off of all the various machineries and equipment that were crammed inside.

"Hey, Rufus. You look tired." The vice-president of the club entered the place and handed her a can of energy drink, before taking a seat in one of the old metal chair.

"Much thanks." Rufus took the can, drinking the whole can in one go.

"Wasn't that like, what, at least 13 repairs and 15 consulting today? You also went around the school, fixing machines that were working up. Aren't you working a little bit too hard?"

"It's fine, fine. It's not like I'm doing this for free. Besides, I needed this. If I don't have some work in my hands, they start rotting. I shouldn't have taken such a long break."

"That break was…what, a day?"

"A whole day without a work! Can you imagine that? It was ridiculous, I could just feel my body becoming decadent! I'm not doing that again." The mechanic spat in a disgusted tone.

"I'd still say you should take some break. You will be entering Beacon in a few days, you know? I heard they have some kind of test in the first day, and apparently it's pretty hard."

"I will be fine. Even if I'm not, this will be my last day in this club, so I better get as much work done as I can before that, no?"

"You just can't leave your work to some others' hands, can you? If you don't do it with your own hands, you might as well as not do it at all, that's how it is with you."

"Well…okay, I guess that is a bit of true. Sorry."

"I hope you lose that attitude by the time you make a team in Beacon."

"Maybe. Still, I have a faith that you will do pretty well as the president."

"Probably not as much as you, though. I mean, under you, the club came up with three patents! I don't think I can do that."

"Some people just get lucky. I mean, with what happened in my childhood, apparently Lady Fortune decided that I need some luck to even it out. I'm just hoping that I have that luck in Beacon too."

"That reminds me, I can't believe you are going to Beacon." The vice president said.

"What about it?" As she spoke, she took out her primary equipment from her tool belt and examined it, seeing if it was properly maintained.

"I mean…all those scholarship offers from universities and internship in companies…you are just throwing all of them away to become a Hunter?" Then a look of realization came onto him "No…"

"What?"

"You are going to Beacon so you can look after Cian."

"What?! Don't be ridiculous. Why would I want to follow that idiot _anywhere_?"

"I don't know, you did come here because of him."

"That's because the school offered us a place to live, in the dorms."

"Okay, then explaining that they _why_ you are going to Beacon. I mean, don't get me wrong, it is a great place, several of my relatives graduated from there. It's just that…why go there when you got so, _so_ much better offers from practically everywhere? You even got an internship offer from Schnee Dust Company!"

"Well, the scholarship it's giving me covers half of everything, so that's something. Also, is 'Avenging my parents' a good reason?"

"For you? Hell no. I know that you miss them, don't get me wrong, but I highly doubt that you give two bits about avenging them or anything. That's more of Cian's thing."

"Revenge is a sucker's game, yes."

"I wish Cian had the same attitude." The vice president sighed.

"I don't know, I constantly worry about it…but I don't think I want him to stop having that attitude?"

"I don't get it. Why?"

"Because…his vengeful spirit is what keeps him going."

"Yeah, going towards the cliff."

"It's either that or giving into despair. Either way, there isn't anything I can do about it."

"Can't you just let him be and go on your own way? You don't have to follow him off the cliff, you know."

"No, that's not an option. It's final." She said, looking over all the tools and constructs that she used and sometimes created.

"…If you say so."

"Well, I'm going to the bank. I need to pay for the tuition and everything."

"It's good that your scholarship covers at least half of them. Hey, have you seen Cian? Nobody has heard of him for almost a week by now. "

"He told me that he was going on a trip, but he never said where and for how long. All I know is that he will be back before the entrance ceremony and I won't have to worry about it."

"You are worrying, aren't you?"

"Oh God, yes."

"Were you there when he challenged Yang and got beaten the crap out of him?"

"You'd have to be more specific."

"Right, last week."

"Oh, that one. No, but I was there to patch him up."

"It was quite a sight, I tell you."

"I don't want to hear about it. Jeez, he really should know his place. Nobody ever challenged her and won. I don't think there is anyone around our age who could beat her, actually."

"What about Pyrrha Nikos from Sanctum? She is a four times regional champion."

"I don't know, and frankly, who beats who, it's none of my business. I don't understand why people are so obsessed over it."

Rufus shrugged as she put on a dark green shirt over her grayish brown shirt. Then she left the room, still wearing her toolbelt.

"Make sure that all the lights and machines are turned off. I don't want to see another fire."

"All right. Hey, just one question. What happened to that project? It was some kind of mechanical suit, wasn't it?"

"Yes, yes it was. Well…we almost finished it. The only problem is that it runs on Aura, but nobody has enough Aura to operate it for more than one minute. I mean, not in this school, there aren't."

"That sounds pretty impractical."

"Yeah…but you know, what can I do now. See ya."

"Hey, Rufus?"

"Yeah?"

"It was nice having you in the club."

"Likewise."

Rufus smiled and closed the door and let out a heavy sigh. It was true that she never really wanted to be a Hunter. She would have been more comfortable just dealing with machines of any sort. But sometimes, one just couldn't choose what was happening in one's life.

Then she heard a very familiar, very ominous sound of something breaking. Immediately she reentered the room, and saw a smoke rising from a machine, with the vice president crouched next to it, apparently trying to turn it off.

"…Okay, what's happening here?"

"This thing overheated. Didn't you say this was fixed a while ago?"

"Yeah! I took care of the most parts, and all the other guy had to do was replace the circuit, and…oh God, he forgot to do that. Aha. Ahaha. Ahahahaha!" The vice president was visibly startled at the tall girl's deranged laugh.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Aha…long story short, this means I have to work on this thing from the beginning! How wonderful, I always wanted to do this again. After all, it only takes 2 whole hours!"

"Why can't you make him do it? It's his fault."

"Nope. Can't trust him. Not anymore. Gotta do my own. Everything."

"Uh…Rufus, are you all right?"

"I will be once I am done with this, and possibly have that lazy bum's head bashed in, but enough talking, back to work."

"…Yeah, I think I'm going to leave you alone."

Wisely, the vice president stepped out of room, away from unhinged giggles and sound of tools working the wonders.

"I guess some people never change."

* * *

As Rufus stomped down the street of the Vale City, towards the bank after another backbreaking repair session, deep frown formed on her face. Normally she looked more like a handsome boy than a pretty girl, but whenever her face warped due to less than pleasant mood, she could be mistaken as a very angry man.

Rufus texted Cian with frustrated fingers multiple times, but got no reply. After 17th time, she was considering just throwing her phone straight on the floor.

_That idiot…just going wherever the hell he wants, doing whatever he feels like…what does that make me? _

"Urgh!" She grunted as she kicked a pebble. Nothing got hit, but she chastised herself for such carelessness.

As she saw bunch of girls hanging around, either with their girlfriends or boyfriends, she looked at her hands, covered with cuts and calluses. When she sniffed it, her nose picked up lingering smell of oil and ashes. She started wonder; what exactly would she be doing if she never had to do all those works, toiling with her hands every single day.

Upon further thought, as hard as her works were, she couldn't imagine herself not working. The pay is satisfying, for one thing. Also, Cian, who did have part time jobs of his own, would often come over to the workshop and help her out as well. Or maybe it was just her workaholic self trying to justify herself. Oh well, it didn't really matter anyway. Actually it did, but she didn't want to think about it.

Just as she turned a corner, one of the cars drove by her, splashing a pile of mud towards her. Somehow she sensed it and jumped out of the splash. Before she could even feel slightly lucky, though, as she was crossing a road, during the sign, no less, a scooter stopped a little too late and hit her. Nothing was broken, but it did cause a stream of exquisite languages from her. When the panicking driver asked her if she was all right, she simply told him to piss off, which he immediately obliged.

Rufus grunted as she checked her limbs again, and found that indeed nothing was broken. Okay. It was only twice. It was still just a coincidence, not an enemy action. Just to be sure, though, she looked around. Some of the survivors of the Unwissend Massacre did report having seen some people following them. They were considered delusional, but for some reason, Rufus found herself thinking about it. Shrugging, albeit a little bit forcedly, she went on her way.

Slightly fortunately, the line in the bank was very short that time of the day, and she didn't have to wait much. Outside from the security guard questioning her toolbelt, nothing happened either. Soon she found herself talking to a bank teller with a pleasant smile.

After that, she would have the entire Friday afternoon for herself. Oh, she was going to work, all right, but she could do works that were actually fun. Perhaps she could work on that multiplayer game mod she was working on for almost a year. It would only take a little bit more debugging, and it would operate seamlessly in most computers!

Her plan and excited mood got cut short when she heard a particular piece of news from the banker.

"Wait…what do you mean?"

"Well…I don't quite know how to break this to you, but…well…someone has cleaned out your account and all the payments you made in past couple of weeks have bounced."

"…All right, what is it, stolen PIN? Hacking? Identity theft? Some kind of electronic Dust, what is it?!"

"We don't really know. I'm so sorry."

"But…I need to pay for my tuition, and…wow, just…wow, this is…"

Rufus clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. There was never too much money in her account. No matter how often she saved there was always somewhere to spend. Admittedly, her obsession with gadgets and manuals was quite responsible for it. Other than those, though, she hardly spent any money whatsoever and saved up all she earned to her account.

And now it was just empty.

Her heart was about to explode with a force mixture of anger, sadness, and frustration. It appeared that that day was particularly fond of messing with her. Was getting that partial scholarship too fortunate that it had to be balanced out? Then, against all her reasons, she thought something; a few words that had ubiquitous and unlimited power over causality.

"Oh, man…can this get any worse?"

The answer came immediately.

The doors of the bank burst open as about a dozen men in masks and uniform, armed with swords and guns (although mostly swords, for very curious reason) barged in. One of them fired machine gun into the ceiling, causing everyone present in the bank to scream and scramble around.

"Get down on the floor! Everyone on the floor!"

"You! Behind the counter, get out now!"

The White Fang robbers yelled, ordering everyone into one place, forcing them to get their faces on the ground. Rufus looked at the scene with blank, twitchy eyes. Remembering that it just happened to be Friday, the favorite day of the week for the robbers, she muttered.

"Universe…_Why?_"

Rufus considered herself a woman of rationality. While some people, like Cian, tended to act according to their impulse, she carefully measured consequences of every action. For her, only reliable actions were those that were prepared for days and thought through over and over. When faced with a situation like a bank robbery, she would keep her mouth shut and get down on the ground, like a rational person. Unlike some of her fellow graduates of Signal, she had absolutely no desire of being a hero, content to just survive every day.

However, she was no saint, and only had a limited amount of patience. Three misfortunes in the span of less than three hours, however, used up most of them, without any opportunity to replenish them. The bank robbery that happened right in her presence, immediately after learning the fate of her bank account, was the very last straw.

"Hey, I said get down!" One robber ordered Rufus, aiming his sword at her, but she didn't respond.

"I said, get down! You got a death wish or-"

The robber's word was cut off as Rufus' one hand grabbed the wrist that was holding the sword, and the other hand grabbed his throat. The robber tried to struggle, but the sheer strength of her hand was just too strong, like a vice.

"Ghk-let go…of me-ghk!" The reddish brown haired girl with a blank look on her face had no intention of obliging. He barely lasted five seconds and he went limp.

_How choking. _Rufus snickered in her mind as she made (what she thought was) a clever quip.

Before his comrades could even process what just happened, she lifted the limp (but still alive) body over her head and threw it at them, knocking another guy out.

_Talk about a grievous bodily harm._ The other citizens in the bank either withdrew to inner chambers of the bank or ran straight out of the bank by then.

The first one to notice this lifted his gun towards her and took an aim. From her toolbelt, she took out one of her two primary tools: Gofannon, High Impact Nail Gun. With a quick aim she fired three thick and long black nails that flew through air and pinned his sleeve to the wall behind him, neutralizing his gun, and then his other sleeve, completely trapping him.

_Hah, nailed it._

When one attacked her from behind with a sword, she ducked the swing. Then she crouched and swept his legs, and when he fell on his face, she nailed his pants and collar to the floor and kicked the sword away.

_Don't bring a sword to construction site. _

Switching the level of her nailgun, she fired a grappling hook at one of the walls, between two White Fang robbers. Then she reeled, pulling her body towards the wall in a rapid speed. As she was pulled towards the wall, she clotheslined one robber and dropkicked another in the face. One robber attacked her from behind, and she simply side stepped and grabbed him from behind, and took him out with a suplex.

_Apparently some people were not ready to rumble. _

Then she took out her another primary weapon; Goibhniu, a Multi-Purpose Industrial Flame Emitter. She took an aim at the sword of an attacking robber and shot a stream of fire at the blade. The robber dropped now hot blade with a yelp and before he could properly feel the pain, Rufus headbutted him to the ground.

_Now that was using head. _

As two robbers attacked her at the same time, she adjusted the strength of her flame emitter. Now brighter, the flame cut through both swords in one swing with sparks. The robbers stared at their now halved sword in a mixture of confusion and terror. Their confusion was soon brought to end when she grabbed both of them by the chins and threw them to the wall, knocking both of them down.

_Okay seriously, who brings swords to a bank robbery? _

A sharp object flew right next to her face, cutting a few strands of her hair. Her eyes widened up a little bit upon seeing that the last standing robber was channeling a blue light of Dust on his hands.

"A Dust using robber? Well, that's new."

In a blindingly quick speed, Rufus fired two rounds of nail to the robber. The robber countered it by casting an ice shield that was, while not strong enough to stop it, enough to change the trajectory. Then he ducked, throwing a flechette of ice towards her legs. Just as she jumped to the air to dodge it, he threw an ice disk at her.

_Clever boy. _

In midair, she fired her grappling hook towards the robber, who stepped aside and dodged it. As she pulled herself towards the wall in the midair, the robber threw another ice disk at her. Stopping reeling, she stepped on the disk and changed her body's direction, sliding between the robber's legs. Now behind the robber, the cable now half-wrapped around the robber's leg. With one easy pull, the robber tripped. Rufus smiled, as no one stood any chance against her groundwork.

When she lunged to finish him off, though, he took out his sword (which she never noticed until then) and swung, almost cutting her eyes up. Then he lunged for her, and when she sidestepped, he hit her in the side of her neck with a blade of his other hand. The blow caused her to very briefly black out and her tools slipped out of her hands.

The robber kept swinging his swords. Because of the sneak attack on her head taking out her sense of balance, she couldn't coordinate herself properly. Counterattack was out of option, and all she could do was barely dodging its slashes. The dodging came to an end when, stepping backwards, she tripped over a fallen body. As she was about to trip, the robber swung his sword at him, making a small cut on her left cheek.

"Damn it!"

Just as she fell, the robber got on top of her and raised the sword to strike her, the tip of the blade aiming her throat.

_Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!_

Just that moment, she spotted her nailgun just within her reach. With all her might, she reached for and grabbed it, and blocked the tip of the blade with it. Immediately after, she aimed for the arm holding the sword and repeatedly shot nails after nails to the robber's shoulder and upper arm. The robber screamed in agony and drop his sword.

Taking the chance, she flipped him around, now with her on top of him. She wrapped the cable around the robber's neck and strangled him, pressing down his chest with her elbow. Within less than ten seconds, the robber went unconscious.

_Talk about…okay, I got nothing. _

Getting off of the robber, she stumbled around and fell on her back, her breath heavy. Unexpected fighting tended to wear her out quickly, although she could wrestle for hours in matches. People stared at her in a mixture of confusion and awe, but Rufus couldn't care the less. How exactly did she get to this again? Did she let her emotion get better of her again?

_Great...just...great. _

Although she never exactly considered herself as a paragon of rationality or anything, she hated acting out of impulse. Sometimes what one wanted to be and actual actions...could be so different. She groaned as combat fatigue and a sense of shame overtook her, depriving her of will to stand back up.

Then an imposing figure loomed over her. A quick glance revealed familiar features of short pants and iron leg warmers.

"S'up, Rufus."

For some reason, he was wearing a grey hood jacket. He almost never wore any shirt, _ever. _Upon closer look, though, his jacket was open, showing off his torso.

_Good old Cian._

"Goddamn, what happened here?" Cyan haired brawler said in a small bit of awe, looking at all the unconscious or struggling White Fang robbers.

"Just your average bad day in a bank."

"Never saw a band of White Fang robbers, though. all talk, all violence. Freedom fighter? Revolutionaries? Fucking bullshit. You all right?" Cian spat as he helped Rufus up.

"Well, I can't complain. Thanks."

His eyes widened as he saw a couple of robbers stuck on a wall and the floor by nails.

"Wait, Rufus, did you do all this?"

"Hmm? Oh…well…yeah, kinda." Rufus said, wiping the dust off of her clothes.

"You are a mechanic, not a fighter."

"I have bad days."

"Which is every day."

"No thanks to you!"

"What? What did I do?"

"What did you do? What did you do? _What did you do?!_"

Rufus walked towards him, urge to throw a punch to his abdomen rising.

"You disappeared for days without letting me where in this wide world you were going. Do you have _any_ idea how worried sick I was? Did you even check your phone?"

"Oh yeah, that. Well, after your about 100th call, I kinda blocked your number."

"You did what?! You know, when the bank robbery happened, I was wondering if this day couldn't get any worse, and guess what, I was wrong, you Inconsiderate. Little. Twat."

"Oh yeah? Well, you…you are…wait, what's that on your cheek?" Cian asked, pointing at the cut on her cheek.

"This? Well, I just got cut a bit. No biggy, really."

"Hey. Did he do this?" Cian asked with a cold expression, pointing at the robber who was now conscious, but painfully choking and groaning on the ground, clutching his shoulder in pain.

"Uh…I guess?"

Without a word, Cian walked towards to the robber. He hooked the robber's belt with his foot and lifted the entire body. Then he threw the body to the ceiling and before the body could hit the ground, he kicked it a half dozen times, breaking all the ribs and clavicle. Finally, he kicked the robber's head so hard that his teeth flew out and his body was slammed to a chair and a desk, destroying both of them.

Rufus looked at the scene with her mouth open.

"What the hell was that? He was already down! Why do you insist on causing additional property damage?"

"He hurt you, so I hurt him. Is that really too complex for you?"

"Yeah, thanks, except I never asked for it. Good…GOD, you are acting like a madman."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Hey, are you done here, or were you waiting?"

"Huh? Yeah…I need to talk to the bank's manager, but with how things turned out today, I think I'm going to return next week."

"All right, then pick your weapons and let's go."

"They are not weapons, they are just repurposed tools." Rufus replied, picking up her tools.

"Potato, potahto. If so, Ferrum Tabernus is a stylized footwear."

"It technically is."

"Shut up and let's go already."

Cian turned and sauntered out of the building. Rufus awkwardly turned to the people in the bank, all staring at her.

"Uh…I gues…I will be going. Sorry about the…property damage?"

"As a manager of this place, I will let you off the hook. That's the least I can do for you stopping the robbery." The old man in a suit smiled.

"Oh? Uh…thanks! Have a nice week." With that he hurried out of the bank.

* * *

They managed to get away from the bank just as the police returned. As neither of them wanted any particular attention from either authorities and the media, they weren't complaining. As they walked down the Vale City, they talked about various topics, as if they were trying to catch up with something.

"God, there are so many heroes running around lately, Hunters or not. I guess Ruby's Dust robbery intervention was pretty darn inspirational."

"Ruby? Ruby Rose? That's Yang's sister, right?"

"Eeyup. Apparently this got her straight into Beacon."

"Yeah, I heard that. It's pretty impressive! Yang must be so proud of her."

"If we are entering as the same grade…maybe I can finally ask her out."

"I didn't know you were into little girls, Cia. Besides, do you want another beating from Yang?"

"Bah, I can take her."

"Right, is that why she beat the crap out of you everytime you challenged her since…I don't know, the very damn first day of the school? Seriously, aren't you ever gonna give up?"

"Hahahaha, no. Gonna keep on trying until I win."

"Can you at least try some different tactics? I don't know, mix some grappling and clinch fighting into it. I can…teach you, if you want…"

"If I don't defeat her in my own way, what point is there? Also, if I'm ever learning grappling, of all thing, I sure as hell won't learn it from you."

"What? What's wrong with me?"

"Because, it would be freaking weird!"

"Oh, what's that? Is it because I have cooties, Cia boy?"

"Stop treating me like a fucking kid!"

"Then don't act like one! Seriously, your mental age is like that of a seven year old."

"No it's not!" Then his eyes lit up. "Oh! Hey, can you close your eyes just a bit?"

"What? What for?"

"Just do it, will you? I won't do anything funny, I promise."

"You said that the last time you pulled a prank on me. This is probably 13th time I heard that."

"This time it's real, I swear!"

"7 times."

"Okay, fine! If I pull off anything funny, you can set my comic collection on fire, okay?"

"I admit that I never heard of that one before. All right, I'm giving you benefit of doubt."

Then she stood on the spot and closed her eyes. In spite of herself, she couldn't help her heart beating faster when she felt Cian's warmth close to her face. She even flinched a little when she felt something cold touching her neck.

"Wait…is that…a necklace?"

"What? Aw, you guessed."

"Why are you tying from the front, you are supposed to do it from behind!"

"Oh, I was? No wonder why it felt so damn uncomfortable. Uh…keep your eyes shut, will you?"

"Okay, fine. Just do it quick."

Despite her dismissive attitude, she couldn't help but feeling excited. A necklace? For her? Cian never did anything like that for her before. In fact, he hardly gave her any gift whatsoever. Did he buy it with his own money? Where did he find it? Would it look pretty with that new dress she bought? That and many more thoughts ran through her mind like flood.

"Okay, I'm done! Phew, dexterity is so not my thing. You can open your eyes."

Rufus opened her eyes. When she saw her reflection in a store's window, her heart skipped a beat.

"Oh…my…God…Cia, is this…is this really…?

"Yup."

On her neck was a necklace made of different kinds of worn out but colorful beads, the kind that children would play with. The centerpiece of the necklace was a small but shiny reddish brown colored rock with the letter R carved on it.

"How did you get this? Did…did you go all the way to Unwissend?!"

"Yeah, it wasn't easy, but-"

He clenched her fist, now her whole body trembling. This did not go unnoticed by Cian.

"Okay, what now?"

"So THAT'S where you went off to?! You know it's a restricted area now, what if you could have gotten in trouble with the authorities? What if you got hurt by Grimms there? Goddamn it, Cia, why are you so hellbent on making me worry so much!"

Tears flowed down through Rufus' cheeks glittered due to slowly setting sun. Her watery green eyes hit him harder than any punch he received in any of his matches. Whatever was on top of his tongue, he swallowed.

"I'm…sorry."

"Sorry? If you are sorry, then tell me why."

"Why? Well…I…just thought that since we are entering Beacon, you will need it. It is supposed to be a protective charm, remember?"

"What…?"

"I made you that thing when you got sick. You got better just three days after wearing that, so it must be effective. Then when we left the town, I realized that we left it at our old house, and…you know what, it's stupid, I just want you to know that I'm sorry and I did it for you."

She still glared at him with angry, teary eyes. When she cocked her fist, Cia closed his eyes, preparing for a punch. Instead of an angry punch, all he got was a soft tap on his stomach. He opened his eyes out of surprise, and then got a peck on his cheek.

"Uh…what?" Cian touched his cheek.

"Thanks, I really love this. I missed the feel of this necklace on my neck for almost a decade."

"You actually remember that?"

"How can I forget? I always wanted to make you one on my own after that. Funny thing is, though, no matter how good I am with my hands, I can't make you any protective charm. I don't know why. It's a shame, really."

"You ARE my protective charm." Cian said, wrapping his arm around Rufus' shoulder. Then their eyes meet and both recognized the pink look on their faces, and they immediately put a distance between each other. After a while, Rufus started to laugh.

"Really, now Cia? I'm your protective charm? In what cheesy chick flick did you pick _that_ up?"

"Shut…shut up!"

"And you make fun of me for reading _Ninjas in Love_. I think I read a line like that in the book." Then she gasped in an exaggerated manner. "No…do you read that book too?"

"No, no I don't! I don't read trash, I don't! I don't! I don't!" Cia kept stomping the ground, his face red.

"It's all right, Cia. Your secret is safe with me."

"Whatever. I'm hungry."

"I can smell that you had like, what, at least three hotdogs on the way. And you are _still_ hungry?

"You know me well. You still got some mac and cheese left? Or did you make another weapon with them?"

"I thought we agreed to never talk about that."

"Whoopsie. Anyway, do you have it?"

"Yeah, I have it. I can make you some spaghetti too."

"Oh? What kind?"

"Carbonara."

"Did I mention that I love you?"

"Not often enough."

Two childhood friends walked down the street illuminated by slowly setting sun. Reddish clouds were floating around in the cyan sky, free of ashes.

_To Be Continued_


	5. Surgam

AN: To those of you who read all previous chapters, thank you for sticking with this! Now I even have followers and reviews, and quite a lot, at least for an OC fic! Thank you all. They give me huge encouragement to keep on writing. :D

To those of you who skipped straight to this chapter, welcome! Initially this story featured all canon characters, with no original characters. However, I decided to add them, because I wanted to bring something new to the world of RWBY, without messing with the canon characters. Also, I tried to put as much as effort into creating OCs as Monty did to creating RWBY characters. Obviously I can never reach his level, good heavens no, but at least I can try. It's worth trying, no? As such, this chapter is much, _much_ longer than other chapters, just like how the first episode was a lot longer than most episodes.

One last thing: The events happening in this chapter did not take place in the same day.

Feedbacks are always welcome, because they inspire me to keep on writing and improve my writing. :)

Opening theme – _Deus Non Vult_

* * *

Under the Ashen Sky

Episode 1 – Surgam

Slate

Surveillance was on Schiefer Hayha.

Lately, the grey haired operator felt eyes licking his skins whenever he walked through the hallways that led to his room. International Security Support Elements, more referred as just the Company has a secret system: a machine that saw everything inside its main buildings and the branches. Schiefer knew because Schatten Condottiero, the head of the Company, built it. It allowed those with proper clearance to monitor everything inside the buildings with very few numbers of cameras.

Although Schiefer knew this, for the most parts he did not find this all that strange, or uncomfortable. However, sometimes he could just instinctively feel that it wasn't some drone in security office (who didn't even know what the system was truly capable of) checking through the footages with boredom, but the Master himself personally watching him.

Turning around a corner, he gave the security camera a very displeased look. The camera moved up and down, as if it was nodding. Schiefer shook his head and just moved on. He knew that he wasn't being watched because his Master doubted him or anything; he was one of the most trusted operatives in the Company, despite his numerous mistakes. No, his Master was watching him like a child who would keep following and bothering his favorite puppy or a doting mother who refuse to keep her eyes off of her baby. He was 20, far too old for that.

Entering his room in silence, he barely lifted any dust off of the floor. The windowless room was just wide enough for five single-sized beds, and covered with grey wallpaper. Outside of a bed, a shelf full of books, and a closet that stored his clothes and weapons, the room was largely empty and free of any decoration. Well, not entirely, and he knew it.

Slowly, he closed his light brown eyes and took a deep breath and opened up his ears. When he picked up something, his eyes opened up again. Somebody had been inside. He opened up one of the several drawers under his bed and took out a couple of tools from the toolbox. With those tools, he opened up the electric socket in his room, where he found a small listening device. When he carefully took it apart, he found a very tiny piece of paper hidden inside, something written on it.

[I don't believe this, you found it again!]

_Marvelous_. Schiefer rolled his eyes.

Obviously, the room used to be bug-free. In recent months, though, the Master kept planting bugs in his room, different kinds in different places, in order to train and keep him vigilant. At least, that was what he claimed; the true reason was most likely that…he just loved to mess with him.

"He will have to try a lot harder than that." Schiefer murmured. Then his phone notified a text message, from the Master.

[All right!]

[You…It still works?]

[Haha, yup! Just because you took it apart, doesn't mean it stops working. Now when you are done packing up, come to my office, will ya? Just need some final check.]

[Ah yes sir. By the way, how long will you keep on doing this?]

[If I tell you, it will defeat the purpose of this exercise!]

[I never knew it was an exercise.]

[Now you do!]

Schiefer simply closed his phone and proceeded to pack up. Due to his lack of worldly possessions, packing up did not take too long.

He was one of very small percentage of operatives who lived in the Company's dormitory building. Among them, he was the only one who lived in the place for so long, even though for up to half a year he would stay abroad. Essentially, the room was his home for nearly a decade, ever since he became part of the Company. Had it really been that long? Time sure went fast.

Despite being one of the top operatives in the Company, he never chose to move on to far better rooms, larger space, air conditioning during the summer and heating during the winter, and other conveniences. Schatten tried to change his mind almost every other month, but the operative kept on refusing. He kept saying that anything better than the room would be a luxury for him. According to him, before joining the Company his whole family was living in a shack, so even his current living arrangement was a luxury.

Even though he carried out operations in all four kingdoms and continents, he was still working under the Company. This would be his first time being both far away from the Company and under another major organization. Also, the longest he had ever been away was 9 months, nowhere near 4 years. Perhaps those were the main causes of his anxiety? No, not quite, but that was a good start. He decided to not to dwell on it; he would be able to return to the place eventually.

Speaking of start, he was done packing so he better report to the Master. Considering that he called him to his very office, he deemed it appropriate to have some courtesy, and took out a set of clothes he hadn't worn for a long time.

0000

Not too far away from the dorms was the main building, appearing like a grey brick. Inside of the building looked just like an average, perhaps better furbished, federal building. Of course, it was precisely the way the employees there wanted; boring, inconspicuous, and very practical.

The receptionist let Schiefer enter the place without asking for any identification, but she did give him a flirty eye. Outwardly he merely professionally smiled, but inwardly, he frowned. Did his clothes made him stand out or something? If so, that spelled trouble.

Curiously it was middle, not the top of the building. Standing in front of the building, he collected his breath and straightened out the edge of his clothes before knocking the door three times. Then his phone notified a text.

[Come in.]

Sighing, he opened the door. Each of the little mechanical parts clicking as he opened the door failed to escape his ears. So much for simplicity.

It took him less than a second for his eyes to scan the whole office. The place was about four times larger than his dorm room, which was still considerably smaller than those of most large company's CEOs. The office had a large screen on one of the walls, a couch large enough for three, and a very, _very_ wide window. From the texture and the edges, he judged that it was made of highly resilient bullet resistant glass. Sure, it would break down in multiple shots with sufficiently large enough caliber, but it would hold just long enough.

The room was filled with pleasantly cold air. He knew that his Master was not a completely frivolous man; if it was up to him, he would keep the office actually a little hot during the summer and cold during winter. Schiefer suspected that he adjusted the office's temperature just so he, someone hailing from an extremely cold forest region, would feel more comfortable.

The most interesting thing about the place, though, was a wide mahogany desk and six screen monitors on it. He could hear sound of busy typing and clicking behind them. As he took second step into the room, the sound stopped and Schatten turned the screens around. When the blue haired CEO's green eyes caught the sight of Schiefer, he broke out into a chuckle.

"Why, look at _you!_ When I called you here, I wasn't quite expecting the man in the suit."

Schiefer wore clean white shirt underneath a slightly tight fitting slate-grey suit and wore jet black tie. To be honest, he felt rather uncomfortable in it, but did not show it.

"I simply figured that I was summoned into your office, so I should dress more…formally."

"You know, I never really cared about it myself. From now on, though, I'm going to make you wear that suit every time you come into this office. In fact, just wear it whenever you are not on mission, because son, you look _fine_ in that suit."

"I am quite flattered, Master. However, this suit is far too expensive to wear that often."

"Oh come _on_, are you going to wear that just once every year simply because I got you that suit in your birthday? Don't be ridiculous, I know it's expensive, but you can afford to wear it a little bit often than that."

"So, what do you wish to speak about, Master?" Schiefer changed the topic, not wishing to keep discussing a matter that he found superfluous.

"Oh, right. Take a seat in that couch over there, why don't you?" Schiefer obliged. "First thing first, how are you feeling? Are you ready for the mission?"

"Quite so. I had to work out a lot just to get the stiffness off of my muscles and joints, but I am prepared."

"Excellent. I believe that you received the transcripts and read through all of them by now."

"Quite, I memorized it"

"Let me hear it."

Schiefer proceeded to give out his story. After he was done, Schatten nodded in satisfaction.

"Excellent, you got it all right. Although, depending on who is asking, you might have to fill the gaps spontaneously. I hope that it does not come back to haunt you, you will be fine."

"I certainly hope so. My only problem is…Shepherd Slate? Shepherd? _Really?_"

"What? It sounds similar enough. Besides, it's appropriate, you know?"

"I have never been too fond of that nickname…now I have to use it as my name?"

"Don't worry, son. You'll get used to it." Schiefer glared at his Master, who simply mischievously smiled, but just shook his head in resignation. .

"Fine. Will this be it, or is there something more you would like to discuss?"

"Glad you asked." Schatten took a remote controller and turned on the large screen on the wall. Clicking another button, he turned off the light of the room and covered the window. In a darkened room, the screen glowed.

"It's a security footage I got both from _Dust till Down_ and nearby buildings."

The screen showed his mark, Ruby Rose, fighting off Roman's gang in multiple angles and locations: inside the store, on the street. Initially he expected some stranger to show up and rescue the little girl in a red hood, as he could not believe that someone so small and cute was capable of overwhelming several men who were much larger and likely more experienced in combat.

His jaw almost dropped, however, when he saw the aforementioned tiny girl unleashing her weapon: an enormous, unholy metallic combination of anti-material rifle and scythe. When he saw her utterly overwhelming four of the thugs through acrobatics and unorthodox movement of recoils, his jaw gave in and hit the floor. She didn't even kill anyone with that weapon, at that! He didn't bother to pick his jaw up until the Dust duel between two Huntresses was over. Witnessing the scene in multiple angles made it even more incredible.

"…Master, are you sure this footage is unaltered?"

"Hmm? No, they are completely authentic. Why do you ask?"

"It is just that…I never saw anyone fighting like that. It is simply too…incredible. I mean…using a sniper rifle's recoil to essentially fly around, with such a small frame of body? My basic understanding of physics refuses to believe this."

"Silver eyes, remember?"

"Ah, you are correct."

"Also, you think _that_ was impressive? Get a load of THIS. This is a footage I got from a club owned by Junior Xiong."

Schiefer did not ask how he got those footages: the Master's system that monitored inside the Company's building had more than enough capability to tap into other buildings' networks as well. Basically, the chances were that if one was inside any building with working security system, the Master could see him.

Of course, there were several ways to neutralize that system, some of which Schiefer learned just in case. He never thought about any circumstances he would need to put those into use, but life was a funny and unpredictable thing. At least for the time being, though, he would make use of that system himself.

"The girl featured in this one is Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's older sister."

"Wait, why do they have different surnames?"

"It's a bit complicated and rather irrelevant at the moment. Just watch this."

"Just a moment, Master, may I go to restroom before watching this?"

"Why before watching thi-oh, you know what, yeah, it would be a good idea."

When Schiefer returned, he could smell something very nice.

"Yeah, got some popcorn. This footage is some sweet stuff. You want some too?"

"Don't mind if I do." After getting a small bag of popcorn from Schatten, Schiefer sat on the couch again.

Initially the footage of the club showed just an average night. He had visited and fought in one as well, so he knew what it was like. He tensed up when he saw a blond girl walking in and took a seat next to a man in black waistcoat, who signaled two brunette girls in red and white strapless dresses.

"I assume they are Ms. Xiao Long and Mr. Xiong?" Schiefer asked, pointing at the blond girl.

"Yes. Wait, you don't know how they look like. How did you know?"

"Her name means Sun, and she has blond hair. Also, when she walked, from the posture of her shoulder and pacing, I could see that she is more than ready for a fight. If anything, she probably went in looking for one. As for Mr. Xiong, the way other men in suits responded to his hand movements when he signaled those two ladies indicated his authority."

"Wow." Schatten whistled. "That's a pretty impressive reasoning."

"Just a shot in the dark, actually."

"I…see."

"How old is she? I am assuming at least 21."

"17, actually. She's entering Beacon this year."

"Wait, what? Isn't she a bit too young to enter a club like that? What happened to the bouncers?" Not to mention her…_certain features_ were very developed for a 17 year old.

_Hmm…those are pretty thick bracelets. Is it part of new fashion statements? I can never understand current fashion. _

"Oh, you will see. Wait, wait, here is the good part!" Schatten sniggered.

_Oh dear, that is NOT a good sign. _

"I wonder what they are talking about-wait, did she just…?"

"Yup, she just grabbed Junior's juniors." Wicked grin formed on Schatten's face.

"Ow, that must hurt…" Schiefer instinctively crossed his legs.

"I think I'm in love." Schiefer decided to ignore the fact that, despite his extremely youthful appearance, he was almost thrice her age.

"Hmm…Mr. Xiong seem to react in a quite calm manner, despite her…offense. Wait, why is he trying to kiss someone who just grabbed his-whoa!"

He slightly jumped on his seat as the blond girl sucker-punched the man across the bar. Then she equipped her weapon, her bracelets extending into a pair of gauntlets.

"Wait, did that thing…just cocked?"

"Signal Academy, kid. They come up with all sorts of bizarre, physics-violating weapons. I heard a student there made a weapon out of mac and cheese."

"And here I thought my weapon was quite improbable."

"Oh _please_, your weapon is painfully mundane by their standards."

They resumed to watching the hell that just broke out. In the middle of the fire was the blond girl, burning brighter than any fire.

"How absolutely amazing."

"What is?"

"For a weapon with such a simplistic design, it grants her unbelievably rapid, powerful, and versatile combat style. She fights in 3 dimensions, not just two, like ordinary fighters such as I do. I noticed that Ms. Rose shares that aspect as well, although to a lesser degree. They are certainly sisters, or at the very least taught in a similar style. Even without the weapon, she managed to punch Mr. Xiong across the bar, and kicked around his henchmen, as if they were nothing but scarecrows."

"That sounds about right."

"I have to say, though, Ms. Xiao Long's name is…curious. It is definitely of eastern origin, but she looks absolutely nothing like one. I doubt that it is of any relevance, but I find it interesting. Huh, how interesting. Those two ladies fight in very inappropriate attire."

"What about them? Those dresses are sexy."

"I am not concerned about modesty, but rather, how uncomfortable the outfit must be. I mean, who wears garters in these days outside of ungentlemanly establishments?"

"Boom! Right in the head!"

"But then again, compared to an overwhelmingly powerful opponent such as Ms. Xiao Long, one would stand no chance regardless of attire. She certainly has an amazing combat sense. She neutralized the lady in red by throwing off balance with a strong low-kick, and neutralized the lady in white by grabbing her arm. Of course, the kick in the end was very stunning as well. If I wake up after receiving a kick of that caliber, I would probably wish that I did not."

Amused, Schatten simply chuckled. The next scene had Junior walking out with a rocket launcher.

"Wait, a rocket launcher? _Indoors? _Master, is any of them alive?"

"Just keep on watching, son."

"Rocket launcher that fires six missiles at once…I am rather surprised how Ms. Xiao Long can not only react, but deflect all those rounds. They must be the least powerful rockets I have ever seen. Then again, considering all the inhuman feats she demonstrated so far, I cannot say I am too surprised."

"Hey, here comes the end."

"Whoa, was she just set everything on fire? And…did she just punch him out of the building?"

"And destroyed all the windows in one punch."

"I am rather glad that I went to the restroom."

"Good, because washing that couch would have been a pain. Son, I don't know what it takes, but do try to get on her good sides and recruit her. She is one of the best damn fighters I've ever seen in my whole life, and I saw a LOT of fighters."

"I'd say. She has strength, endurance, and very versatile weapon. But most importantly, she has a simply outstanding footwork. I believe _that_ is her deadliest weapon. I most certainly do not wish to fight her in any circumstances; I simply cannot find any weaknesses. One simply cannot hope to defeat someone who mastered in both basics and advanced techniques."

"Perhaps you might be able to find some, if you see her fighting in live, not in this kind of footages."

Then the footage showed Yang jumping outside of the bar, and encountering a familiar girl.

"Master, what do you suppose they are saying?"

"I can't say, but they seem to be glad to see each other. I guess they're in good terms."

"If so, I believe Ms. Rose's safety in the academy is guaranteed, if nothing else. Master, is it too late to reconsider my mission? I doubt that I stand any chance among the likes of these…sisters of mass destruction."

"Yup! You are in, and that's final, son. Besides, don't you want to see your princess again?"

Schiefer tried to answer. He found no words coming out of his mouth, however, as he heard a familiar scream of a girl ringing in his ears and shaking the insides of his head. The operator covered his ears and gagged, desperately resisting the urge to throw up.

"Son, are you all right?"

"I'm…I'm fine." He found right inside his suit, holding onto a certain object.

"Do you need to take a day off to calm yourself down?"

"No, no Master, I can do this. I'm not a liability at all, no, no, no, I'm not. Master, may I use the remote for a moment?"

"Uh…sure."

Schatten uneasily handed him the remote. Schiefer took his hand out of his suit and took the remote. He first turned to the beginning of the footage of the club. Then he turned to the end of the footage of Roman's Dust robbery, around 4:00 mark. He intently watched the parts where the blond huntress inflicted massive amount of damage on the aircraft. His eyes narrowed when he saw Cinder threw around fiery Dust spells.

He took out a small notepad from his pocket wrote several things down. Schatten observed him, wondering what he was writing. When he was done writing, he took the page off, he handed it to Schatten.

"Master, do you think you can get some information on these? This should narrow down his hideout. He can't be too far away."

Schatten read through the piece of paper. His eyes widened when he finished reading.

"Wow, you got all these from the footages? Yeah, I can find them, it's nothing too hard. This is a pretty easy investigation route. Roman should be really glad that you are not on the police's side, son."

"Actually, if I am on police's side, it will be better for him because I would make a very poor investigator. The thing I wrote down there, it is simply a shot in the dark, as always."

"You are heading off to the Vale City now, correct? Will you take the train?"

"As a matter of fact, yes."

"Then I should be able to find it by the time you arrive there. I will text you what I found. What about lodging? Somewhere around train station would be nice, yes?"

"Yes, just a cheap one would suffice."

"Nope, too late. Just booked a room in a five star hotel."

"Master, that was highly unnecessary."

"Nothing is unnecessary when it comes to you, son."

"Speaking of necessary, did you get my message about the failures in the Boosters?"

"Ah, yes, I got them. They were quite troubling, good job finding them."

"Do you have any provisional ones?"

"I'm afraid not. The problem you stated will be even worse in those. Then again, a lot of operatives kept bugging me about replacing them for years, and I guess this is one flaw that just can't be ignored. Oh, I just remembered! Remember the prototype Booster I talked about? It should be finished in about a week. I'll ship that thing to the school when it's done."

"Normally it would not be a problem…but I heard about this exam that supposedly takes place in the first day of the school. My weapon can lose up to 70% of its effectiveness without the Booster."

"Yeah, you are sort of going there handicapped. Well, make it double-handicapped, seeing how you never went to any combat school. Do you think you can do it?"

"…Actually, yes. I believe it is at least worth trying."

"All right then. I hope you pull through."

"Right. So…will this be it?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah. You can go now, if anything else comes up, I will contact you. By the way, when you get there, there is a restaurant that I've been visiting for decades, the one that I told you about. It has some really nice barbecues and gives you a lot of food per Lien. You should try it."

"I will keep that in mind, thank you for recommendation."

"Oh, and here is a ticket for a play. One of the clients gave it to me, but frankly, you know I don't watch plays or movies anymore. It's a Jägermärchen, no less. I don't know about you, but that genre got real old real fast, if you ask me. Who knows, maybe you might find it slightly more interesting. Actually, give it a shot. You know, enjoying the fruits of civilization and all that."

"Well…okay."

Schiefer took the ticket. Who knew, maybe he could give it to somebody else.

"I shall be leaving now."

"All right. Son, I'm begging you. Please be safe."

Schatten sighed as his most trusted operator left the room. He considered about pulling him out of this mission with stronger persuasion. Clearly whatever plagued him could be a liability to the mission. However, he also knew that if he was actually pulled out, that would damage his already unstable psyche even further.

The last thing he wanted was someone with his skills to descend into madness. Of course, it all boiled down to a gamble. He could choose either Schiefer descending further into melancholy and eventually madness, or the entire company going down for a small chance of his improvement.

Schatten then sat back in his seat and smiled. His whole life has been one big gamble, after all.

0000

As Schiefer rode the cab to the train station, he wondered when he would be able to return to his home. Of course, it wasn't as if the place was too far away from Beacon Academy. He could probably pay a visit at least once every month or two. That was, if things did not become busier in the Company. Recently the Company was taking many small projects, rather than few big ones, so most employees and employers could enjoy a little bit more of free times.

That was the way Schiefer preferred, actually. Whenever the Company took a small project, it often involved just regular, legitimate security business. Big projects, however, usually meant doing Schnee Dust Company's dirty works. The pay involved in it was enormous, but so was the loss, especially in personnel. Most of those he knew in the company were lost while working on those kinds of project.

Regardless of the missions, he would always be a survivor and a victor. His misery lied in him often being the only one.

* * *

Cyan

Cool air brushed against his skins as a very tall, cyan haired teenager ran through the street at dawn, wearing only a black short that was outlined with fiery patterns, cyan colored iron leg warmer, and no shirts.

Yesterday, upon his return to home, he got (additionally) interrogated by Rufus for, sneaking into their hometown, now a restricted zone guarded by military. However, that night the dinner involved spaghetti AND mac and cheese, so his mood of that day in general were lifted considerably.

At the same time, his heart sank when he learned about her account getting emptied. Initially he imagined him finding whoever was responsible and having a nice chat with him or her (the nice chat being the sound of bones breaking), but figured that such thoughts wouldn't do her any good. Actually, even though he didn't want to admit, they seldom did anything any good at all.

Nevertheless, he wanted do something about this, considering all the things he owed her. Not only she helped him with his studies, something that he was never good at, she also did most of the cleaning, cooking, and other housework, even though they were just living in Signal's dormitories. In addition, when he caused property damages, Rufus often paid for the damages as well.

Not slowing down when a water fountain was in his path, he simply flipped in the air and jumped over it, and resumed running. Encountering stairs with over 15 steps, he jumped down all of them and rolled upon landing. Again, he resumed running.

Although it was still pretty dark, he looked around just to see if there was any police officer. They didn't like people doing parkour because the running occasionally results in property damages. They were already wary of him because of his tendency to getting into fights. So often he got into fights, he actually got into Vale Police Department's grey list (he didn't quite warrant a blacklist) and got held back a year, causing him to enter Beacon at 18.

In fact, that was why he did it only during dawn and late night, during his morning jog. It wasn't as if he was clamoring for attention, though. It was something that came rather naturally to him, and it was a great workout. He couldn't really figure out how, but he guessed it had to do with him being quite a troublemaker back when he was a kid and had to run away often, both from other kids and adults.

Kids never liked him because he wasn't too bright. When he became a teenager, teenagers didn't like him because, despite his loud nature, he would take some matters, especially ones regarding Grimms and his hometown, far too seriously. If he became an adult, people wouldn't like him because he was too much of a problem.

Honestly, though, he didn't really give two shits about them. He was the best hand to hand fighter Signal Academy ever seen, and he got accepted to Beacon, that was all he cared. Okay, he wasn't really the best fighter; no matter how many times he tried, he would never beat Yang Xiao Long, not by a long shot. He was getting closer, though.

Actually, should he choose to fight her with a style that didn't prove ineffective against her time after time, he might even have a better chance. However, something in him didn't actually want to defeat her. In fact, he liked the fact that there was someone stronger than him, because it was a reminder that there was something stronger than him out there.

Not that he believed he was stronger than Grimm. Of course not, that would be ridiculous. It was just that he never got to encounter live Grimms during his time in Signal. When they learned how to kill a Grimm, it was done in controlled environment under supervision. He knew that despite that, the graduates of Signal would be confident in their weapons that they would be able to fight Grimms.

On his way he could see a building with many windows that had ledges and an external staircase. He jumped and held on to the second floor's ledge. There, he pulled himself up and stood on the ledge. Then he jumped to the third floor's ledge and jumped again. He repeated this until he got up to the external stair case that led up to the rooftop.

Moving up to the roof now, he started running again. Stepping on the ledge, he jumped down to the nearest shorter building's rooftop. Upon landing, he once again rolled, although he felt just a little bit of strain on his knee this time. Ignoring it, he climbed down from the building by sliding down a pipe in the exterior of the building.

The amount of heat generated from the running ensured that he didn't need any shirt despite the cool air. He liked it because he loved the feeling of sweat and air on his skin. If only he could get away with it, he would run without pants, but people tended to frown upon that. Rufus tried to get him wear shirts, but at some points she just stopped trying.

Over a bench he jumped and slid under another. He saw another staircase, which as he remembered, had much more steps. From his waist, he drew his pair of absurdly large pistols and threw it in the air. Before they could land, he transformed a pair of iron boot, which now covered his knees and feet as well. The pistols attached themselves to the boots, with the barrels facing to the ground. He fired the guns as he kicked the ground.

Momentum propelled his body forward, allowing him to dash far faster than any normal person can think of. When he got to the staircase, he slid on one of the rails, causing sparks. At the middle of the stairs, he jumped to the other rail. Momentarily he wavered, but he regained his balance and kept on sliding. At the end of the staircase there was a person walking, and when he got off the rail, he slid under the person's legs.

"Sorry!"

Cian yelled out as he used a bench to jump onto a tree branch and swung, throwing his body onto a grass field and rolling. Standing on the field wet with dew, he could finally see destination. He admitted to pulling off some unnecessary fancy moves, but he was, after all, using parkour, which was getting one point to another in the fastest way possible.

Most of the buildings on that side of the street was quite, but not the gym Cian was about to enter. The light was off, but he knew that whoever inside was wide awake by now. Knocking couple of times, he entered opened the door.

Inside was a two rings, several punching bags, and a door to the locker-room. The rest of the floor was covered in mat, and in the middle sat Cian's coach, sitting next to a candle, drinking tea. The old man wore greenish blue shirt and red and black shorts. His face was filled with wrinkles and hair white as bone powder. Yet there was a strong light in his yellow eyes and wiry muscle covered his frame.

As Cian stepped inside, Hei Ren put his cup down.

"Morning, Sifu."

"I am merely a coach, I don't deserve that title. You are awfully early today."

"Whatever you say. I figured that I was in mood to participate in your morning ritual."

"The more, the merrier. Come here, take a seat. I see that you ran here."

"As always." Cian replied as he sat on the other side of the candle.

"Good, it's healthy. Here you go."

Hei handed him a cup of steaming tea. Cian promptly drank in one gulp and slammed the cup down. Awkward silence passed between them.

"You are not supposed to drink it like that."

Cian grunted.

"You feel like dying, aren't you?"

Cian grunted harder and more painfully until he couldn't hold it anymore and spat the tea out to the previously clean floor, causing Hei to frown.

"Pah! God, that was hot."

"Kids these days don't understand manners anymore." Hei shook his head. "So, what are you up to this time? Why did you visit me?"

"Oh, nothing. I just felt like saying goodbye one last time. I'm going to Beacon today, you see."

"It's less than an hour from here to there. It is barely longer than distance between here and Signal."

"Old men these days don't understand figurative expressions anymore." Cian shook his head.

"Very amusing. So, how was the trip?"

"How did you know?"

"You didn't show up to practices, and Rufus came and asked about you. Several times, in fact. I could just tell that you made her worry quite a bit."

"Eh, it was nothing, really. She was just being a worrywart. You know how she's always like that, she just can't turn it off, and it's such a pain in the ass."

"You should be grateful to have someone worry about your well-being, you know. I lived 80 years, and I tell you, those people are extremely hard to come by."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Why do you keep drinking this? It barely has any flavor." Cian asked, trying to change the topic.

"Ah…yes. You see, warriors like us…need to keep the fire inside us burning. When it goes off, so is our mind. Without its mind, the body might as well be a corpse. However, if the fire grows too strong, it will turn the body into ashes. Good tea fuels the fire, but at the same time keeps it from going too wild."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure your fire was tranquil when you gave those two thugs a skull fracture and broken ribs with only three punches."

"You know it had to be done. I abhor senseless violence, but when weak and innocent lives are at stake, I can't just sit and watch them suffer. Those who won't stand for the weak will always fall in front of the strong. Besides, I did apologize to them afterwards."

"Which was totally unnecessary, if you ask me."

Hei chuckled, sipping from his cup. Cian stared at him and sipped his tea just the way he did.

"Hmm…this makes me feel…I don't know…peaceful?"

"Does it really?" Hei asked, half-skeptical.

"Well…no, not really."

"I feared as such. You are burning too brightly, stronger than anything else."

"I thought that was Yang."

"You both are. But she burns like a sun, while you burn…like hellfire. Rufus is always worried about you, and I can see why."

"Leave me the fuck alone, will ya? What does any of that matter if I can fight? Outside of Yang, I am more or less officially the best hand to hand fighter in Signal. Also, unlike most of the dumbasses in that school, I actually saw Grimm with my own eyes. Hell, I even killed them, all by myself with no supervision whatsoever. That already makes me a far better Hunter than them. Hell, I am sure I can beat up at least half of Beacon."

"You say the most arrogant things. You never even have been to Beacon just yet."

"Hmph." Cian simply sipped his tea.

"For four years, you were about how many consecutive fights you can win. I can see that once you enter Beacon, it will be about how many Grimms you can kill."

"If only I didn't encounter Yang that time, my record would have been flawless! Fuck!"

Hei rolled his eyes.

"It always boils down to a competition with you, proving that you are not weak. What are you so afraid of, Cian?"

"Me? Afraid? You are senile, old man. I. Am. Not. afraid of any goddamn thing in this wide fucking world. There is something I should fear? They should fear _me." _He then fell silent, as he realized he said something that he didn't intend to.

"Cian, you know that out there, there are plenty of those who are stronger than you. Also, you are scared of Grimm, but you will never admit that. You should know that strength isn't an answer to everything."

"You don't know that because you weren't there when they attacked! You don't understand what Grimms are like. A senile fuck like you don't understand what real horror is!"

Cian shouted, throwing the tea cup he was holding in his hand to a wall. The cup hit the wall, but thankfully wasn't broken. He found himself standing up, his eyes filled with haze. Silence between them filled the room, his breath the only occupant. Closing his eyes, Cian sat down again. Then he stood back up and brought the cup back and sat down.

"I'm…sorry about that."

At the sincere apology, Hei merely sighed. The old coach filled Cian's cup with tea again and handed it to him.

"Cian, I lived through a centuries old feud, multiple civil wars, and a global conflict. It may not be the same kind that you've seen, but I've seen horrors, more than enough for multiple lifetimes."

Cian held the tea and said nothing.

"You know what it did to me? I got sick of senseless violence. Life is so short and precious to waste on bloodshed and rage. You should stop thinking about burning down your enemy's house and start thinking about planting another tree in a nearby mountain."

Hei looked at Cian to see his reaction. When he figured that the brawler was showing a sign of understanding, he continued.

"You are basically going to be a soldier, fighting in this…_war_ against Grimm. You are encouraged to think in a black and white view, that it is either you or them. Life or death, good or evil, human or Grimm. Those are the ideas that move this society, but at the same time killing it. I ask you to not to see it that way. Don't try too hard to make demonize your enemies. Learn to become a true soldier. Fight bot because you hate what is in front of you, but because you love what is behind you."

"I…don't know. That just sounds so…bizarre. I'm not sure if I can put it in practice. I'm not sure if I even want to."

"It took me 70 years to finally realize this. You are not in hurry."

Cian nodded and took another sip of his tea, this time actually trying to enjoy the aroma and flavor.

"You know…maybe this isn't so bad after all. It smells nice, if anything."

"Learn to appreciate little things like that. Be grateful _before_ it goes away."

"Okay coach, what is with you? You are not the one to give out sagely advices. You would say stuff like this only once in a week, but this morning that's all you are saying. It's weirding me out, really."

At this the old man chuckled with a slight bit of bitterness.

"Let's just say that a sudden but inevitable turn of events in my life motivated me and leave it at that, shall we?"

"…If you say so."

"I just remembered. Did you already spend that fight money and championship prize you won recently? You told me that you are going to buy a car with it, didn't you?"

"Yeah…but that will have to hold."

"Hmm? I remember you bragging about it. You just wouldn't shut up about it. What happened?"

"Well…Rufus just got her bank account emptied out, because of some kind of scam, hacking, whatever. As such, she won't be able to pay the tuition and boarding fee for this semester. So I decided to pay for it myself."

Hei spat out his tea.

"What?" Cian protested.

"It's just that…I never expected you to do something so…generous."

"Well, considering all that she has done for her, it really isn't even being generous. It's more like paying my debt, little by little."

"I see. Either way, that is very nice of you. She does deserve that, you know. So for yourself, for her, try to find peace rather than war."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, O wise philosopher. I guess I better get going. Rufus must be up and awake by now."

"It was nice seeing you, Cian. I hope you have fun in Beacon, without causing any problem."

"I will try my best. Thanks for the tea, by the way." That was about the best answer he could give.

"Anytime. Oh, and if you meet Professor Ozpin, tell him that Hei of the South sends his regards."

"Uh…yeah, whatever."

Hei looked at his pupil as he left the gym. Then he let out a heavy sigh.

War was coming, and Cian would be at the center of it.

0000

By the time Cian was out of the building, the morning came Far away on the cityscape, he could see sun picking its yellow head up. He chuckled a little bit because it reminded him of certain someone. The morning sun he saw in that city was no doubt the same one he saw in Signal's dormitory and his hometown. It was the same one he would see in Beacon as well. However, it felt different, even though it shouldn't.

His scarlet eyes looked up at the dark blue sky sprinkled with few stars, now being encroached by the splash of orange and pink. For a moment he just stood there, marveling at the beauty of the nature. No matter how large mankind thought their influence in this world was, it shall always remain beautiful.

Then image from his hometown splashed in his mind. Scream of the children and women ran in his head and his eyes were blinded by the image of crimson blood flowing on the street. Shadowy image of the evil that struck the town flickered like a black fire.

His head started to throb, which always happened whenever he remembered the massacre. Gritting his teeth, he shook it off and headed to dorms.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop seeing ashes in the sky.

* * *

Fuchsia

Fuksia felt her life was threatened.

"Uhahahahahaha!"

Cackling like a witch, an auburn haired girl drove her scooter down the Vale City in a reckless speed.

"Ho…holy crap!"

Scared to death was her foster sister, her purple eyes almost filled with tears of fear. Her fuchsia hair and her white coat, one that appeared like a shortened labcoat, fluttered in the wind wildly.

"I told you I can totally drive this thing!"

"Allie, I thought you are not old enough! Aren't you only 14?!"

"Don't worry, Fuko! I have plenty of experience with this thing."

"Oh…oh God, you are going far over the speed limit for scooters! Please slow down!"

"Man, I thought you are going to be a Huntress, not a cop."

In spite of her sarcastic remark, Allie obliged and slowed down, although not by a whole lot.

"Not a whole lot of slowing down, but thanks?"

"I'm sorry, but just hold on for a little bit longer. Are you feeling sick?"

"Quite!" Fuko put one hand over her mouth. When Allie briefly turned her head and saw the state of her sister, she groaned.

"Urgent call, I see. Oh hey, we are here."

Eventually the scooter of terror stopped in front of a Hunter supply store and Fuko practically leaped out of the vehicle.

"Just exactly who taught you how to drive like that?!" Fuko accused.

"Eh…you don't wanna know." Allie only gave a cattish smile.

"Actually, no, I don't."

"Now onto the business." Allie rubbed her hands, her cattish smile now appearing more devious.

"Let's not…be too enthusiastic. You are scaring me."

"And can you blame me? I've seen the catalogue, and my goodness, just imagining you in those outfits fills my heart with wonder." Allie said theatrically, with her hands on her chest and eyes closed.

"Right…" Fuko, the one who would be actually wearing the outfit, seemed less enthusiastic.

"Ready now? If you don't feel like doing this with me, you don't have to do it. We can just hang around the street and you can come here at your own time. No pressure, really."

Ecstatic look on her sister's face, though, made it harder for Fuko to say no.

"You know what, let's do it. It's not a big deal anyway."

"All right, let's go!"

Allie grabbed Fuko's hand and led her into the store.

0000

The medium sized store was primarily filled with likes of textbooks for Hunter academies of all levels and weapon creation & maintenance kits. Fuko visited the store several times already so it didn't really impress her that much. The same could not be said for her foster sister, though.

"Oh wow, look at this! This is the kind of fancy toys you guys get to play with?!" Allie gushed, picking up a weapon creation kit.

"Allie, they are not just fancy toys. They are, well, _weapons_, designed for killing Grimms. You know how scary they are."

"Actually, I don't. Have you?"

"What? Of course I have, I graduated Sanctum, remember?"

"No, I'm not talking about the ones that are declawed and defanged for the training, but the _real _ones."

"Uh…no, I can't say I have."

"I thought so. Then again, you have far more experience in this kind of thing, so I shouldn't really say. Anyhow, oh, this looks just so cool! If I become a Huntress, I might make something like…I don't know, a crossbow and a chainsaw? That would be awesome."

"Uh…huh. That sounds awfully impractical…but then again, I've seen worse. You stay here, I'll go get the textbooks."

"Hey, let me come with you, I want to see what kind of textbooks they use."

They moved to the textbooks section. Books about numerous subjects and thickness made Allie awe. Fuko, however, was intimidated. She would be the one using them, after all. Fuko opened up her phone and checked the list of required textbooks. When she found all the books she needed, Allie looked at the price tags and whistled.

"That's a lot of Liens…"

"Lien for Lien, nobody screws you over like the Hunter supply store." Fuko sighed, her head hung low.

"Pyrrha got full scholarship so everything including the textbooks is covered, right?"

"For whole four years. I'm so jealous of her."

"Aren't we all."

"If only I entered that contest for scholarship..."

"Why didn't you enter?"

"What makes you think that I could have won?"

"What makes you think you _couldn't_? You always seem to think that everything you do will end in failure. I don't get it. You were ranked third in your graduate class, weren't you?"

"Well…yeah, but I just got lucky. I mean…I shouldn't have been in within top 10."

"And here we go again. Let's talk about that one later. Now…" Allie picked up her objective and something extra. "…you got some clothes to try on."

"Uh…I'm not quite ready-eek!"

One hand holding the clothes, with the other hand she dragged her sister to the changing booth.

"Fuko, come out already, I know you are done there."

"But…I'm…"

"Don't make me drag you out."

"Okay…"

Fuchsia haired girl hesitantly got out of the changing booth in her school uniform. The uniform consisted of dark brown vest outlined with gold, tan inner jacket, and white shirt. Below her waist, she wore red plaid skirt. In addition to the uniform, she still wore her orange flower shaped hairpin and white high knee socks, the latter of which was Allie's suggestion.

"Are you satisfied now?" Fuko said, slightly red hue on her famous.

"Well, hot _damn_! Do you mind if I take pictures?" Allie asked, whipping out and opening her phone.

"Uh…actually, I don't think I will feel be comfortable with that." Fuko replied, pushing down the hemlines of her skirt.

"Okay, I respect that." Allie closed her phone, sounding disappointed. "Why not, though?"

"Well…"

Uniform's upper clothing clung tightly to her body, emphasizing her waist and breasts. As for the red skirt, its hemline came well above the knees, not many centimeters away from being a microskirt.

"It's very…form-fitting, to say the least."

"I think it makes you look _gorgeous_. You should have worn something like that back in Sanctum. You could have been so popular among the boys."

"I was never interested in boys."

"Right, because you were too busy having a schoolgirl crush on Pyrrha."

"Wha-wha-what?! No I wasn't!" Fuko denied, her blush becoming even brighter.

"Suuuuuure, you didn't. I know how your eyes sparkle whenever you talk about her."

"I said, I don't…OH GOD, WHAT ARE YOU WEARING, ALLIE?!"

Only then she realized that Allie was wearing the uniform as well. However, not only hers was at least two sizes smaller than her body. The skirt, which was already too short for Fuko's taste, stopped being a miniskirt and a full-blown microskirt. She even unbuttoned the top two buttons on her white shirt.

"How do I look?" Allie asked, spinning around, and Fuko could've sworn that she saw a glimpse of her underwear.

"Inappropriate. Little sis, you are _14, _you can't go around wearing clothes like that."

"Oh please, don't be such a prude. Don't tell me you never tried putting on make-up when you were in elementary school." Allie laughed. When a couple of boys walked by and looked at them, she winked flirtatiously.

"Urgh…"

"You know, if you are feeling uncomfortable in that, you can get a uniform that is larger in a size or two."

"I would, but the next largest one was a little bit too loose for me."

"Oh. Maybe you can even wear the boy's uniform."

"I don't think you are allowed to do that."

"Who knows, check out the dress code. As long as nobody explicitly said that you can't, it's a fair game."

"Riiiiiight. Well, I think I'm done here. Do you want to stick around and see some more?"

"No, not really. I'm a bit hungry, let's grab a lunch. You know, I am not going to be a Huntress, but I think I might get myself this uniform."

Fuko groaned.

0000

Leaving the store, Fuko holding the books and Allie holding the uniform, they looked around the street, looking for a decent restaurant.

"Hmm…I don't have any suggestion myself. What about you, Fuko?"

"Uh…"

When she looked around, she found a familiar place; a café that was not too far away from the store. Fuko scratched her head, wondering how she never noticed the café even existing, despite visiting the store several times.

"That café…"

"Which one? Oh, that one all the way there? Have you been there?"

"Actually, yes." Then she headed towards the place without saying anything further. Allie raised her eyebrow and just followed her.

Inside the café, she saw the same green wallpaper with flower decorations.

"You sure this is a good place? I don't see any customer."

"Just like the last time. Hmm, are you up for a sandwich, Allie?"

"Uh, sure why not. I'm not a picky eater. Ham cheese or turkey would be preferable, though."

"All right, let me get the order. Also, how about caramel macchiato?"

"No, I prefer hot chocolate."

They sat at a table, far from the entrance in accordance to Fuko's wish. She remembered what happened the last time she was here. Although she wasn't entirely sure what happened, she didn't want to get involved in any trouble. Perhaps she shouldn't have picked the place after all, but they already got the food, and the place was cool and clean, so why not.

"So, when have you been here?"

"A couple of days ago, actually. Had some coffee with a stranger."

"Oh my. Was she pretty?"

"...It was a man, why would you assume that?"

"No reason. So, was he handsome?"

"Maybe. I mean, he had a face that would be completely indistinguishable among crowds, but upon closer look, he was pretty good looking."

"Ooh, how lovely." Allie giggled, biting onto her sandwich. "So, what did he do? Was he a student or something? Oh, more importantly, does he have a name?"

"Shepherd Slate. I think he was…a security consultant? He was only 20 years old, though."

"A handsome man with a well-paying job that is around your age? Do you have his number?"

"No, he said that he got a meeting and left."

"Oh, that's too bad, that just screams of missed opportunity."

"He did give me a ticket for a play, though. It was nice."

"Who did you go with?"

"Just me."

"Oh come on, you went to watch a play all by yourself? That's just sad. You could have at least called me, I would have come."

"I figured that you would be too busy reading that book I gave you."

"Wait, the day you met this Shepherd guy, was it the day before yesterday?"

"Yeah."

Both of them went silent, remembering what happened that day.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened after I left?" Fuko asked.

"Nothing, really. Mom was still angry as hell, but didn't say anything to me. We haven't talked ever since."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Allie slammed down her palm on the table. Luckily, this time Fuko wasn't drinking or eating anything, but she was still startled, especially the way Allie looked at her, eyes narrowed.

"Sorry? Why are you apologizing? You didn't do anything wrong! Oh, now I remember. You said you didn't enter that scholarship contest, because you thought you had no chance of winning it. Is that correct?"

"Uh…yes…?"

"And you don't think you deserve to be ranked third in the graduating class either. Fuko, I am confused. Just what is wrong with you?" Allie said, sitting back on her seat.

"What do you mean?"

"Before going to the store, you confessed that you were trying to rescue that Faunus boy from fire, because you wanted to be recognized as a hero, yes?"

"…Yes." Fuko hang her head low.

"Why, in the world, is that you are so desperate for recognition, but refuses to acknowledge your actual achievement? Sometimes I see you, and it looks as if you think you deserve nothing but misery."

"What? That's…that's not true at all."

"Fuko, please. Don't even try, you are an awful liar."

Silence fell as two girls ate their food in silence. Fuchsia haired girl, however, had a bit of problem swallowing her food. When she was done with her food, Allie spoke up again.

"So I stayed up the whole night and finished the book. Pyrrha, she's something, all right. You know what part I found particularly memorable?"

"What is it?"

"The part where she discussed what it meant to be a Hunter. It's about setting mankind free from the threats of Grimm. It is pretty appropriate, actually. Hunter is THE oldest profession of all time, although many people confuse it with prostitution, but I digress. My point is, how can you set mankind free, when you are holding yourself as a prisoner?"

Allie paused, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. She didn't really want to have it at this summer, but she didn't want to complain about little things when she was with her sister.

"There are four large continents in this world, but us humanity can live in only four small nations. We are living in a time of peace, they all say, but that doesn't mean there isn't a problem. Overpopulation and food shortage are problems because we don't have enough land for growing crops. People are dying every day because of that. It's ridiculous, if you look at all the increasing number of Hunters and increasingly powerful weapons.

"We got the knowledge and the resources. Despite that, nobody thinks about reclaiming humanity's territory from Grimm, and few who do are quickly silenced. We could be something so much more than what we are right now, but we are holding back our progress ourselves, by refusing the need to go further, and writing up whatever progress that the expedition forces make as wasteful mistakes. Even the Hunters don't care about reclamation anymore. They just…hang around the borders, occasionally picking off Grimms that stumble into human territory, and the rest of their time…I don't even know what they during then.

"Fuko, we are living in an age where there are few people who strongly believe in any good cause. As such, having a strong identity of yourself is crucial to survive. To do so, you can't let your self-doubt hold you back the whole time. Find your identity and stop acting like a prisoner, if you want to accomplish anything. Being a Hunter is not just about hunting Grimm, but about finding freedom and realizing your full potential."

"You got that from chapter 10, page 259, didn't you?" Fuko wearily laughed.

"It's chapter 9, actually. To be honest, I don't remember the exact excerpt. I think it was a lot more concise and coherent, but I think I got my points across."

Allie reached across the table and tenderly held Fuko's hand.

"Fuko, you might have flaws and have a rough past, but you are a great person. Don't let anyone make you think otherwise, not my mom, not those bullies back in Sanctum, not even yourself. I'm sure in Beacon you will find people who will appreciate your worth, but you will have to really believe in yourself and act it."

"How do you know if it will work?"

"Hey, remember how I used to hate you more than anyone else? Now here we are, doing some sisterly bonding before you head off to Beacon. You managed to change me."

"That's because you are a decent person."

"I wasn't until I met you."

"All right." Fuko weakly smiled.

0000

After they had lunch, they briefly returned to where Fuko was staying and grabbed her trunk. Then they went to the airship station, where she was to board the airship to Beacon. Before she boarded, the sisters shared a tight hug.

"If you need someone to talk to, you know who to call. Actually, don't call me, because you will find more than enough good friends there."

"Heh, I hope so. Sometimes I don't know which one of us is the older sister."

"You, of course. I'm just an optimist. I will never make it as a Huntress, but you will. And you are going to be the part of the change that this world needs. I know that you can."

Allie waved at Fuko until she got out of her sight. Inside the airship, she went to a corner and sat down. Where he sat, she saw other people, most likely future Beacon students, walking around. Again, she was all alone, knowing nobody. The gentle humming of the airship's engine h made her shudder. Only few years ago becoming a Huntress was something that she didn't even imagine. Path of a Huntress was something that was violently thrown upon her reality.

She clenched her fists. Now, however, she will walk down the path herself.

* * *

Rufous

Rufus stretched as she finished packing, sweat making her shoulder length reddish brown hair stick to her neck.

Usually she would get any task as quickly as possible. However, that time she found herself taking her time, as if the earlier she finished, the worse off she was. It wasn't exactly the case, but she found the idea of leaving the dorm room less than welcoming.

Flagrant smell filled the room as she sprayed the place with lemon-scented air refresher. She wanted to make sure that whoever used the room next year wouldn't have to put up with Cian's body odor. It wasn't that he was particularly unhygienic, but they were both very athletic and worked a lot, and they lived in the room for four years. There were some things that just added up.

Outside of particularly long field trips, they practically never had to leave the place. Now they had to leave the place for good. Even though she saw this coming, it wasn't easy to take in. She was not a big fan of sentimentality, but some moments like this made her unable to ignore such aspect of human life.

Under normal circumstances, the idea of same people of different genders living in a same room for four years was something quite unthinkable. Of course, their circumstances weren't exactly normal, so it was a moot point. This did not go unnoticed by some students, and they got less than pleasant looks over it. Initially this bugged the two, but they learned to deal with it.

Students stopped talking about it too, at least not in their presence, after two of them became some of the most accomplished students in the academy, both in academics and physical combat, especially in the latter. Cian was the second best overall fighter in the Signal with the most powerful kicks, while Rufus was the best wrestler.

Nevertheless, unlike Cian, she was not a big fan of fighting in general. She preferred calm and rational approaches to problems, and fighting was rather unconducive to such thoughts. Unfortunately, she had a limited patience and when she snapped, she snapped _hard. _Nobody in the school referred her as a calm person, much to her chagrin.

In between studies and combat training, she would take up as much part-time jobs, both in and out of Signal, in order to just have some cash on her hand. She and Cian shared their expenses, half of them covered by the school who took pity on their circumstances, and there were times when she regretted that, due to his big appetite and tendency to cause property damages.

Kinder teachers understood her circumstances and turned a blind eye if she forgot an assignment or two, which happened from time to time due to her works. They were, of course, rather rare so she never counted on it. That also led her to have higher standards in academics, so in a group assignment, she often ended up doing most of the work all by herself, because she couldn't put up with other students' (in her opinion) mediocre works.

Obviously, this led her to be ostracized, but not to the point that it stopped her from being the president of Weapon Workshop Club. Of course, even there she proceeded to take the workload almost all by herself. It simply wouldn't feel right otherwise.

Lately, though, all the works; academics, training, jobs, helping Cian with his schoolwork, club activity, jobs, special projects, and jobs starting to have a toil on her body. At one point even Cian reminded her that her body was not invincible, which really meant a lot coming from him, of all people.

As true as that might be, she had to keep working. To do otherwise was simply unimaginable for her.

Then she heard a knock on the door. She recognized the sound and proceeded to roll her eyes.

"Eeyup, he wasn't there."

Smiling face of Cian entered the room.

"Late."

"And?"

"It took you thirty minutes returning that vacuum to the janitor? Where did you go this time?"

"Oh, there was a couple of books I had to return. Apparently those books were over months overdue. Also, have you seen _Beyond the Territory_, by Grau Jaeger? I think I lost it."

"Goddamn it, Cia. For the last time, no, I can't find every little thing that you lose, I'm not your mom."

"You sure act as if you are, even though you are actually younger than me."

"No I don't. If I was, I would be telling that you should eat more vegetables and that what you did this morning for me was completely unnecessary. Sweet, though, I really appreciate it."

"Maybe if I do this kind of things few more times, I might get completely even and you will shup up a little bit more, so you're welcome."

"You have a way of making a nice thing sounds like jerkish, you know."

"Years of practice and discipline. So are we done packing?"

"Yeah, I think so. I told you yesterday, but we can't take everything so I had to give few things away. Your comic collection and video game player is fine, so don't worry."

"Neat. I'm pretty surprised. I mean, all we owned, just stored away in those three obscenely large trunks." Cian said, pointing at the trunks at the corner.

"Yeah. We can never have too many worldly possessions, can we? We lived in our old home for few years, and we lived here for four years. Now, we will live in Beacon for four years. Wherever we lived, we will never return there."

"We are nomads in this fucking age, aren't we?"

"I don't think you understand what nomads are."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Say, where do you think we will go after Beacon?"

"You said you want to hunt down Grimms. That means that you will be travelling around the world. Probably will never settle down one place. It's going to be a tough life."

"I don't see anything wrong with that. I can't imagine how bad it would be."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Do you even remember what having a home feels like? I certainly don't."

"…No, I don't."

"I thought so. So far I know what not having a home for almost a decade feels like. How worse it will get after that? I don't know that. You can't fear something that you don't know, can you?"

"You think so? I thought the oldest and strongest kind of fear is the fear of unknown."

"I really don't care what a xenophobic horror writer says."

"You don't know anything, so I'm guessing you are not afraid of anything."

"I do know stuffs. But yes, I'm still not scared of anything. Nothing at all."

"I'm sure." Rufus simply rolled her eyes.

"If you are done packing, let's go already. The cab should be down there."

"Aren't you going to put some shirt on?" Rufus said, looking at Cian's body. The only thing that covered his upper body was a tattoo of a fist engraved in a rock, covering his both shoulders.

"Not this again. You know how this is going to end, don't you?"

"I'm afraid I do." Rufus sighed, putting on dark shirts and rolling up her sleeves. Around her waist, she tied her orange jacket that had the insignia of Signal Academy Weapon Workshop Club on its back.

"Hey, don't forget this."

Cyan threw her a pair of modified industrial goggles that looked like a hybrid of a ski goggles and sunglasses, with several buttons attached on the sides. It was, in fact, the first equipment she invented during her time in the Workshop. Rufus caught it and wore it over her head, making it look like a bulkier headband.

Putting on the necklace from her childhood was unnecessary, as she never took it off ever since Cian put it on for her few days ago.

"Thanks."

"No probs."

Cian walked out of the room, taking his trunks out. Rufus followed him, but stopped at the door. She turned back, looking at the beds, wardrobe, white wallpaper, and everything else that used to fill the room. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't turn around, as if all the memories in the place was holding her back.

"Come on, Rufus, what the fuck's holding you?"

Rufus looked at Cian, her eyes partially filled with anger towards him, for being able to leave their home behind with so much ease. With another sigh, she walked away with heavy steps, but couldn't resist looking back at the place every few steps. When the place finally disappeared from her sight, she felt her heart sinking.

0000

Dull, unhappy dark green eyes stared outside of the taxi as it drove her and Cian towards the airship station. Initially Cian looked excited and didn't notice it, but as time went, he couldn't help but noticing her.

"Hey Rufus, you all right? You are looking…strange."

No response.

"Hey Rufus."

Still response.

"Oi, wrench wench."

"What?" Rufus tiredly answered.

Normally, Rufus, with her arms and shoulder that were pretty thick and broad for a girl, masculine name, lack of lack of interest in make-up and feminine clothing, and boyish attitude, was frequently mistaken for a handsome boy, to the point of getting quite several love letters from girls. When she was down and gloom, though, she tended to look more like a girl, a very pretty one at that, much to his amusement.

"You look pretty down."

"Do I? Maybe I am. Maybe, unlike some person, I have problem leaving a place that I lived for years."

"Remember Rufus, you are not the only one who lost your home."

"I know. What's your point."

Cian tried to reply, possibly with a little bit of colorful and sarcastic language, but held it back when he noticed how groggy she looked.

"Look, we might be leaving our…_home_, but we are still in our home_town_."

"I don't get it."

"The Vale City. You said it is our hometown now, right? Beacon is pretty much right next to it, less than, what, thirty minutes distance? Think of it in this way; we are not moving to a new home, we are just moving to _another room._"

"You make it sound as if we own the whole city."

"Well, I can own everyone in this city, so that's close enough."

"Everyone except Yang."

"Except her, thanks so _much _for reminding me." Cian rolled his eyes.

"That reminds me, can you even beat Ruby? I distinctly remember her trouncing you several times over."

"I did defeat her, you were right there!"

"To patch you up because you were almost bleeding to death. Yeah, Ruby lost, but she was in a FAR better shape than you. That was like, what, your 10th try?"

"Hey, she was practically a personal student of Qrow! He even helped her design her weapon!"

"I do remember him refusing to teach you because of your violent tendency. Still, you were the star pupil of Hei Ren."

"Judging from how he speaks of you, that's probably you. And he himself said that he is nothing compared to Qrow!"

"Okay, okay, I get it, enough with excuses already. Yeah, it took you 10 tries to finally get a win against a 15 year old girl who is almost 100 pounds lighter than you. You are a real master, Cia."

"You never had to fight mechanic monstrosity that is Crescent Rose!"

"I have! I won by making that weapon malfunction in ten seconds, remember? It took me only one try. Admit it, Cia. For all your bragging, you are not nearly half the badass you think you are."

"Hmph!" Cian turned around, pouting.

"And certainly twice the child you think you are not."

"Oh, go fuck yourself." The martial artist flipped his middle finger.

Despite that, they found themselves laughing. Then a particular realization then hit Rufus. The fact that while she bickered with Cian she wasn't thinking about having to leave her home brought smile upon her face. Now her expression noticeably brighter, Rufus turned to Cian, who was still looking away. She stared at him until he noticed her.

"…What?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just feeling…happy."

"Damn right you should be. We are going to Beacon, we are going to be a proper warrior, you know? We will learn how to kill Grimms, and none of those defanged, supervised shit in Signal. That's an enormous prestige, and we earned it, unlike some of those dipshits who forge their way into the place. Goddamn, I can just feel the blood boiling inside me!"

"I'm sure it is." Rufus nodded. Then he proceeded to elaborate on that, listing of all the things that he would be doing in Beacon. As he rambled on, she just nodded, half listening and actually listening.

This continued even after they got into the airship and took off. Cian stared at the cityscape down below and pointed at every little building he knew, with a childlike fascination.

"Hey Rufus. You know what would be great?"

"Hmm? What is it?"

"After exterminating the Grimms off the face of this world, flying really, really, really high up and see the world. I never been on a proper airplane before, but if I see the world up there, I think all I'm going to see is how, with an exception of few areas with light, all the areas I can see is filled with Grimms. I've seen some pictures of the outside world, and they were really beautiful. Don't you those landscapes would look even more beautiful if we know that they weren't treaded upon by those filthy feet of Grimms?"

"I don't know. I think the world as of now is beautiful enough. Also, can you appreciate what is beautiful and not? Can you even _imagine_ the world without Grimms?"

Cian did not answer that.

"Then again, the world changes every day. I don't think we can even imagine how the world is like in tomorrow."

Rufus looked at Cian, to see if he was listening. Then she continued.

"The world without Grimm…it will come, all right. But I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon. Nobody can really imagine what a world without Grimms would look like. In fact, rather than that, it would be more proper to think about what the world will be like when we enter Beacon."

"Well, how do you think it will be?" Cian asked.

"I don't know."

"Neither do I. But you know what?"

Then Cian put his arm around Rufus, drawing her closer to him.

"We'll be fine."

"Oh? What makes you think that?"

"No reason." Cian pecked her in the forehead.

Rufus turned her face away, refusing to show him the blush on her face. Realizing what he just done, Cian regained the distance between them. As Signal Academy became further and further, her heart felt heavier. Even so, she smiled.

It would be all right.

* * *

Slate

Entering the train headed towards the Vale City, Schiefer found that the carriage was more crowded than he expected. He frowned; he never liked crowded places; too much smell, sound, and dust. He regretted not changing back to his combat clothes before entering the train. He tugged at the collar of his suit; even in his casual clothes, he always felt a little bit hot during any season outside winter. To make it worse, he was wearing a bowler hat and a pair non-prescription glasses, something Master recommended as a part of his "disguise." He wondered who was sillier, the one who suggested such an idea, or the one who actually accepted it.

Fortunately enough, he found two seats near the window and near the end of the carriage that was empty. Soon after he took the seat, more people got onboard, and the seat next to him, one to his left, became the only available seat in the carriage. Guessing that it must have been his (somewhat) lucky day, he sat back and from his numerous pockets, took out a book with a plain cover: _Treatise on Equality_, by Professor Ashley Brown.

The book had some wear and stain in the edges of the pages. Schiefer wondered if he could finish the rest few chapters of the book before arriving at his destination. It would depend on his focus, though. Just when he was about to start focusing on the book, however, someone took the seat next to him.

The passenger was a slim young woman with a wavy black hair, adorned by a dark grey bow. Pretending to still look at the book, with the corner of his right eyes, he looked at the window, specifically its reflection. She wore black vest and white sleeveless undershirt that stressed her fine features. An immediate glance told him that she was reading a book with a brown cover, but a closer look revealed that she too was glancing at him.

Her amber eyes, slightly tilted upwards, were alternating from the book he was reading, his fingers, the sleeves of his jacket, and his pockets. He carefully and stealthily observed her (admittedly attractive) body. There was something awfully familiar about her, in a way that made the operator gulp. Quietly, he took a deep breath.

"A most splendid weather today, is it not?" Schiefer asked, looking at the young woman next to her, hiding his nervousness behind a fake smile.

"Huh? Uh…I guess?" The brunette replied, her amber eyes now looking at his own. Schiefer resisted the urge to gulp again.

"Almost as splendid as the book you are reading. _The Strange Case_, correct?"

"Riiiight. Have you read this book?" The brunette asked, still sounding suspicious.

"A while ago, yes. It is an undeniably gripping tale, I read it a couple of times, actually. It actually gets better every time."

"I see. Well, what about you? What are you reading?"

"Me? _Treatise on Equality_, by Professor Ashley Brown." Schiefer showed the cover of his book.

The brunette's eyes widened. Internally Schiefer sighed, upon seeing her attention diverted to the topics of literature instead.

"Really? How do you like it?"

"Well, I have not finished it, just the half. I like what I read so far, however. The text can be often circumlocutional and digressive, and some of the more complex ideas are not properly explained. That said, the central arguments, expressions, and anecdotes are very powerful and persuasive. It is, in addition, very quotable."

"I see. What do you think about chapter 5?"

"The one about Faunus rights? It is a very fascinating chapter. Most of the chapters can feel detached and analytic, but in this chapter, I can see how passionate she felt about the topic. I believe the fact that she was a Faunus herself had to do with it."

"Even if she wasn't a Faunus, Faunus right is an important topic, one that isn't addressed often enough. I hate how ignorant people tend to be, in regards to it."

"A pity indeed. The topic itself does not concern me, at least not directly, but I do agree that it is an important topic."

_It would…probably be beneficial if what I do remains secret. _

"I guess it's not as important of an issue to you as it is to a Faunus."

The brunette said, with a hint of bitterness.

"Maybe. But I do know what it feels like to be stripped of rights and being under subjugation. No, I cannot tell you the details, I am afraid."

This got the brunette's attention, even though she still scanned him. However, it appeared as if she was letting her guard down, albeit just a little.

"I'm Blake. Blake Belladonna."

"My name is Shepherd Slate. It is a pleasure meeting you, Ms. Belladonna."

"Likewise. So, where are you heading?"

"I shall be meeting up with…an _old friend_ in the Vale City. I haven't seen him in years."

"Is he your business partner or something?" What about you, Ms. Belladonna?"

"I'm just going to hang around the city just a little bit. Nowhere special, really."

Although she wasn't quite lying, something about her answer felt a little bit insincere. It didn't seem as if she was up to something dangerous, though. More likely she was up to something that people might find embarrassing. He wondered what that could be, but simply shrugged when he got nothing.

"Ah, I see. The city is a fun place, indeed. I hope you have fun.

With that, they both returned to their books. However, unlike Blake, Schiefer had a hard time focusing on his book throughout the ride. Eventually he closed his book and just stared outside the window. The warmth of the window that let bright sunlight in made him feel drowsy and he drifted into sleep.

"Hey, wake up." A gentle touch woke him up.

"Uh-huah?" In that split second when his vision was a bit blurry, the bow, her black and white clothing, facial feature made Blake look like a calico cat.

"We're here, the Vale City."

"Huh? So we are. Thank you for waking me up."

When Schiefer looked outside, he saw the familiar cityscape. They left the train together.

"If possible, do visit the Vale Municipal Library, just two blocks west from the city hall. It is one of the largest libraries in the nation, and holds some collections of rare literature." Schiefer recommended, pointing at the city hall's direction.

"I was planning to, actually. But thanks anyways."

"Ah. Well, it was a pleasure talking to you, Ms. Belladonna. Have fun."

"Likewise."

Exchanging small smiles, they parted. Schiefer watched her go and kept scratching the back of his head. Something about was really, _really_, familiar, but he just couldn't quite tell what.

0000

It didn't take a while for Schiefer to find the hotel to which he got forcibly reserved. Throughout his way to his room, he didn't pay any attention to the luxurious interior or smiling staff of the place, which made him sick.

Once he was right in front of his room's door, the sick feeling in stomach disappeared. As soon as he entered, he took off his hat, glasses, jacket off to wherever he felt like it and collapsed on the bed. It didn't take long, though, and he stood up and neatly folded his clothing and made sure the curtain of his room's window was closed.

In a silence, his mind could focus his thoughts. Anxiety started to crawl upon his skins as his thoughts and memories led to one particular realization: He remembered why Blake Belladonna felt so familiar. He didn't recognize her until then, sat right next to her and talked to her. Not only that, he fell asleep and even gave her his (temporary) name.

It was a display of incompetency that couldn't be imagined.

White Fang.

His incompetency.

He fell on his knees, his breath rough and stomach whirling. His dilated eyes darted around so hard that everything turned hazy. The sight of the room started to disappear, to be replaced with intermittent flashes from his memory that overwhelmed all his senses.

Screams of men falling around him.

Cold sweat covering his body.

Taste of coppery blood in his mouth.

Smell of the rotting corpses.

White hair of a young girl.

Fear overwhelming his soul.

All the sensation became more vivid and excruciating every second, threatening to overtake his entire being. His body started to tremble as he hyperventilated. The discomfort soon turned into fear and disgust, and he staggered towards his jacket and pulled out something, the same thing he tried to grab back in the office. Broken and hollow look splashed across his weary face as he sat on the edge of the bed, with a pistol in his hand. His callused finger landed on the trigger with ease and little hesitation and tremble.

His body partially paralyzed by the painful memories from the past, he stared at the gun.

It would take one move and the nightmare would go away.

He deserved it. He _earned _it.

Just.

One.

Little.

Pull.

…

…

…

…

…Then his phone notifed a text. From Master himself.

He groggily opened up his phone with another hand. On his screen was the information he requested before leaving the office.

"Ha…ah…yes."

Suddenly, a wicked grin formed across his face. His body started to shake.

Then he broke out into a mad laughter.

Oh, he couldn't finish things just then. He had a job to do, after all.

Once his laughter was over, his face retained its haggard and blank look. Without a world, he cleaned up his puke to the best of ability. He managed to completely remove it, but the smell remained. He couldn't do it, at least not when the Master gave him a job to do. Then he changed from his suit, and into his combat outfit. He checked his image in the mirror and made sure his clothing was clean and wiped the puke off of the edge of his mouth.

While doing so, he also realized despite how short his meltdown was, his sweat made his grey hair wet and tears flowing from his eyes caked upon his face. The sight caused a smile of bitterness and shame to spread across his face. Before leaving the room to begin his search for Roman, he picked up the pistol on the bed and put in inside his jacket.

There would be a plenty of opportunities later.

_To Be Continued_


	6. Familar Faces

AN: Oh man, this chapter was NOT supposed to be this long. It's not as long as the previous chapter, yeah, but this chapter was supposed to be only half the length! Oh, and this chapter finally properly features canon characters. Oorah!

This chapter starts at the same day as Fuchsia.

* * *

Under the Ashen Sky

Episode 2: Familiar Faces

Schiefer's search was afoot.

Reading through data that the Master sent him, namely records of warehouses and aircraft maintenance shops near and inside the city, he took down notes on his notepad and started to narrow down the possible locations. In less than thirty minutes, the operator managed to narrow down the possible location to three spots. Unfortunately, all three places were so far apart that he had time to visit one of them before the entrance ceremony. As much as he thought, he couldn't find any way to narrow things down further than that.

Sighing, he just left his room, hoping to find an answer on the street. Initially he considered bringing his primary weapon as well, but decided against it, considering that the recent Dust robbery had put the law enforcements force on edge. He wouldn't need it, though; after all there were at least one gun and half dozen knives hidden inside his body. He stood at the entrance for a moment, not sure where to start. An idea came up in his head and he decided to visit the scene of crime.

As he got near to the dust store where the robbery took place, a brown brick building with two windows and a terrace, he could just feel the residual Dust in the air.

_From Dust Till Dawn…really now? I can imagine whoever came up with the name patted themselves on their back for _such_ a clever pun. _

Schiefer rolled his eyes. He had to admit, though, the name was pretty fancy.

Near the entrance of the shop, on the narrow area between the pavements and the road, he found something that brightened his eyes: a half crushed cigar. Inside of his mind, he jumped up and down like a little kid in a candy store. Looking around, he picked the trash up and sniffed it. He took out a small zip bag and put the trash inside it. Despite being almost a day old and cold, it still gave him the information he needed.

Just to be sure, though, he decided to enter the store, which was still open, instead of being trapped by yellow police tape. Upon his entrance, the old shopkeeper inside twitched a little bit, then reached his hand under the counter and grabbed something. Schiefer figured it was either a baseball bat or a stopped right at the spot and showed his empty hands, maintaining a relaxed and somewhat tired smile.

"Good afternoon, sir. I am simply here to purchase a couple of magazines. No funny business, I assure you."

Still unsure, but the old shopkeeper dropped whatever he grabbed. At the small wooden thunk of the object, Schiefer assumed that it must have been a bat.

"I'm sorry, young man. After what happened yesterday night, I'm a little bit on edge."

"I perfectly understand. I am rather surprised that you are working today. I believe you earned yourself a couple of days off with that incident."

"It's not as if this is the first time someone tried to rob this place. I can fend off most robbers, it's just that yesterday there were too many of them. Besides, if I take a break, who tends the shop?" The old shopkeeper flashed a smile that was feeble yet warm.

"I admire your dedication to your work, sir. They must have been quite a bunch of hooligans to rob someone like you."

Hahaha, there are good people, bad people, you can't always have one of them. You have to accept that." The well-hearted way the old shopkeeper chuckled calmed Schiefer's mind, even by just a little bit.

"Is that so?"

"Nowadays, though, I think I'm seeing more...bad people nowadays. I hope that more young folks became cops, rather than Hunters. Sure, the Hunters are popular and get media's attention far more than cops. Still, I lived in two continents over 70 years, but I never got robbed or threatened by Grimms. Sometimes I wonder if humans are the real monsters."

"I see..." The operator prayed he wasn't one of those human beings who were the monsters that the old shopkeeper was talking about.

"Just a rambling of an old man, don't mind it too much. I'm sure both cops and Hunters deserve respect."

"Right." Schiefer answered absently.

To go back to track, first he swiped the counter with the tip of his fingers and sniffed. Then he crouched and examined the spot where the counter and the floor met, and did the same. The familiar smell was definitely there. Lastly, he went to the corner of the door, where his red hooded little mark was reading the magazines before she decided to take an action against the robbery. In the shelves, while every magazine was properly in space, one of them was placed upside down and wasn't even properly closed. Fascinated, he picked it up. He sniffed the edges of the pages and smelled a mixture of nail polish, steel, and rose scented perfume.

_Unmistakably her._ _Not exactly the kind of literature that a petit young girl like her would read. On the other hand, also _exactly_ the kind of literature that a petit young girl who can swing around such a tool of terror with ease like her would read. _

Remembering that what was his "reason" for coming to the store, along with the magazine, he also picked up a copy of _Truth¸_ a magazine with a grinning, entirely white humanoid figure on the cover. Lastly, he walked towards and checked the Dust dispenser tubes, containing different colors of Dust. He took off his silver glove and ran his index finger through the edges of the bottom of the tubes.

_Most certainly not the commercial Dust container. Industrial, or even possibly military issued, designed to contain far more Dust in comparison to commercial ones. Where could Roman have possibly gotten these? Does the police know this? I am certain that they do, but if they did, why did the news not cover this? Could it be that they _hid _this bit of information? If they did, the implication would be unfathomable. No, no need to indulge in conspiracy theory. The only relevant fact is that there are extremely few places where one could obtain these kinds of container. All the information I found here now narrows the location of his hideout to only two. I guess I can call that a progress. Well, I am about done here, I doubt that I can find anything more. _

Schiefer took the magazines to the counter and the shopkeeper a couple of small Lien bills. Before he walked away from the place, though, he went back to the store, remembering something.

"Excuse me sir, do you know where I can purchase some fine wine?"

"Wine? Uh…there is Bacchus Liquors and Spirits about five blocks away from the Town Hall. Oh, and do avoid 3rd street of the residential district, there is a big fire that has been going on about 30 minutes ago, so it might be a bit crowded."

"Thank you kindly. Good day, sir." He politely nodded and left the place.

* * *

Heading towards the Town Hall, he sighed into his hands and rubbed them. Now the location was down to two. Just one last piece of lead…where could he find it? After an hour of aimless wandering and fruitless web searches, he sat down in a nearby bench, groaning. He could do all he could to investigate, at least without asking the Company for additional assistance. With a blank look, he looked up to the sky.

Why was he even trying to find him? Why was in such a hurry? Of course he knew the reason, but it was far too painful to deliberate upon. Overcoming frustration, he gritted his teeth and stood up. Shackles from the past wouldn't stop binding him because he stopped moving forwards. Where would he be heading, though? Perhaps he should just give up and take a day off, maybe actually watching that play his Master gave the ticket for?

Then he saw a flash of fuchsia.

A young woman with fuchsia colored hair walked by him. She wore a modified white labcoat that made her look like a mixture of a lab researcher and an old time nurse. Maybe she was a medical researcher? Outside her mid-back length hair and feeble way of walking, there wasn't anything notable about her and he was going to dismiss her as another part of the scenery. Just when he was about to move on, he noticed something more ominous.

A man wearing a hood was leaning on a wall that the fuchsia haired woman walked by. After she passed by him, he turned his head towards her and texted someone. Then he started walking, his eyes fixed on her. Oh well, not exactly the rarest sight in city. Still, obviously it was none of his business. Even if nobody took any action, it was a broad daylight, what was the worst thing that could possibly happen? At worst, he wouldn't need to do anything beyond calling the police.

His mind wavered a little bit, however, when he saw something more sinister. A couple more men appeared from across the street, and upon getting a signal from the first stalker, started to trail her as well. Something was definitely going to happen right there, and somebody was definitely going to get hurt. Even then, he didn't immediately take any action; once again, it was none of his business. It wasn't as if he was a hero.

A couple of details he found upon taking a glance at her the second time prevented him from walking away.

_The back and sleeves of her coat were slightly darkened and one of her legs was partially burned, albeit slightly. The front side of her clothes was mostly intact, so it wasn't likely that the burn had anything to do with dealing with chemicals in a laboratory, and the burn on her leg was a common one people in a burning building suffer. The fire is most likely the one mentioned by the shopkeeper, and she was inside. Lastly, there are bits of hand marks on her coat. Judging by the way that she is away from the site of fire and seems not in any hurry, she is most likely not a resident of that building. Somebody must have grabbed or hung onto her, which means she was either rescued by someone, or was trying to rescue someone. She was not a resident of the building, but was inside the fire, which more likely means the latter. _

He couldn't just let a hero get hurt by a group of men who were most likely up to no good. Hypocrisy be damned.

_Okay, the lady and I am walking on the same pavement, and a stalker between us. Across the street, there are two of his associates, trailing her as well. I could take them all out if I want to, but I need to figure out what's happening first. Better approach her first, or figure out who they are. _

Schiefer took out his notepad and kept his head low as he increased his pace, until he was walking alongside of the first stalker. Then he bumped into and knocked him down. In the process, not only he got a good look at the stalker, he also stole his wallet.

"Hey, watch it!"

"Oh, oh, I…I'm so sorry! I was…uh…"

Schiefer helped the stalker up, feeling his hand. When the stalker angrily shook his hand away, there was a bit of shakiness in his motions. Making a clumsy expression, he showed the stalker his notepad. The stalker growled and kept on stalking. A side glance revealed that this action got the attention of other two stalkers as well, but fortunately it didn't look as if they considered him a threat and soon they refocused on the woman. He kept on walking, now in a brisker pace to catch up with the woman. As he walked, he furtively replaced the notepad he was reading with the wallet he took from the stalker.

_Dark teeth, discolored gums, blistered fingers, multiple injection marks along the veins, traces of powder on clothes, conspicuous odor from sweat and skin oil. Old and dirty clothes, excessive wear on pockets and the wallet. The wallet contains lucky charms, notes calculating slot machine pattern, and coupons from a local casino. A substance abuser with gambling habits and probably a lot of debt. _

_Wait…a dark colored card with a red colored symbol with a wicked grin. I know whose symbol this is. Oh. Oh…OH! _

_Jackpot! _

Schiefer found it hard to resist grinning like a madman. Now, he needed to figure out how to get the woman away from the stalkers so he can interrogate them, and the tracking would come to the end. First he needed to naturally approach her, while also getting attention of the stalkers so their attention would be on him as well. Normally it was out of consideration, but the plans have changed.

He kept his brisk pace until he was walking right behind her like her shadow; quiet and barely recognizable. With a quick and calculated motion, he reached for coat and took out the orange colored object that was sticking out of her pocket. He raised his eyebrows just a little bit it revealed to be a flower shaped hairpin. Shrugging, he called out to her.

"Excuse me, miss?"

When she turned around, for a second he was captivated by her vibrant purple eyes. Snapping out, he showed her the hairpin.

"I believe you dropped this?"

Her eyes widened and she hurriedly took the pin from his hand.

"Oh God…thank you!"

_Huh, she's much younger than I expected, can't be older than 23. Very beautiful face and well developed figure too. Focus, Schiefer, focus! Okay, a faint slap mark on her cheek and slight redness around her eyes. Hair roughed up, as if someone violently yanked it. The part of her hair that is roughed up has a very faint of smell of a different perfume, used by a woman. Got into a fight with another woman, no, one-sided violence. What happened? No, none of my business. Whatever it was, she appears to be...hurt. _

As she was leaving, Schiefer received a flash of sad smile, weakly plastered upon her gloomy face. Initially, she was merely a bait and an obstacle to his search. However, the smile touched his heart, and his mind as well, in a rather strange way. A side glance showed him that the stalkers were showing more and more…_interest _in him, perhaps even more than the girl. Success…?

"Come on, how about we go grab a coffee ? You look like you…_need company_." He wondered if he really did mean that, or he simply was meant to say that she _got_ company.

"What? No, I don't need it, but thanks for your concern."

He wouldn't have minded letting her just go, but he could see the stalkers closing in. There is an uncertainty evident in her eyes. For all she knew, she was barely more trustworthy than her stalkers, of whom she wasn't even aware of. He could just tell her, but something inside him convinced that she didn't need further upsetting, at least not that day.

"Please, I insist. It is on me. My name is Shepherd, Shepherd Slate, by the way. What is yours?" He added his name after a bit of hesitation, and to his later regret.

_What am I doing? _

"Me? Uh…Fuksia Larrey."

_What a flowery name. I bet her parents named her after her hair. _

"What a lovely name! I know a good place near here and I am just going to take ten minutes of your time. No strings attached, I assure you."

_Schiefer? You can stop now. Anytime. _

Schiefer put his hands on her back and started to lead her. His hand twitched when she shivered at his touch, and for some reason she followed along. He wondered if he secretly wanted her to scream and get away from him and thanked his gloves for hiding his increasingly sweatier hand. When he turned around, he saw that there were four stalkers trailing him and Fuksia. Where did the fourth one come from?

His eyes darted around, looking for the closest café he could find. Luckily, he found one place near a Hunter supply store, near the end of the street. Without any further thought, he led her inside. He kept looking at her, and surprised at how despite looking somewhat uneasy, she didn't seem to be too troubled by him. Would she act different if she knew what kind of person he really was? Once inside the place, decorated with green wallpaper with flower patterns and devoid of any other customers, they took a seat at a table, and Schiefer took a seat that faced.

"It's…certainly quiet here."

"Why indeed it is. I can guarantee the quality, I assure you. How about caramel macchiato? It might be a little bit sweet, but it does wonder to a troubled heart. Or do you have a preference of your own?"

Left out was the fact that it was the first time he was visiting the café, and that hot chocolate and caramel macchiato were the only sweet beverages he knew. He had no idea what he would say and do if the café was so small that it didn't even serve those.

"Uhm…yeah, I will take it."

"Most splendid. I will be right back."

Even as he went to order, he kept glancing towards the entrance. The four stalkers now gathered in one group, discussing something. He had no doubt that whatever they were planning to, it would end with him facing them, simply because there was no other way. Obvious there were, but they were clearly no black operators. His attention got her attention as well and she looked outside as well. Of course, she couldn't see the threat that he could, and simply shrugged and turned to the interiors of the place, to his relief.

Within a minute, he returned to the table, Fuksia's coffee. He ordered himself a cup of tea, the only kind of beverage other than water that he drank.

"Thank you for waiting, here you go."

"Thanks."

There was a slight bit of tremble in her hands as the fuchsia haired girl as she opened the lid. Schiefer tensed up as she breathed with her nose, taking in the aroma of the coffee. Something told him that she wouldn't like it and his brain started to run wild, trying to come up with possible excuses. His eyes brightened, however, when she a sip of the hot and sweet drink, and slowly her body seemed to relax.

Despite that, he still felt a little nervous, as she took another sip and put it down. She let out a satisfied sigh and smiled. Gentle warmth returned to her face, vanquishing gloomy and sad expression. The afternoon sunlight shined upon the girl, and her beauty made the operator's heart start to beat faster.

"How do you like it?" Schiefer cautiously asked.

"It's good_. Really good._ You know, maybe I really did need this."

"Really? To be honest, I was just taking a shot in the dark."

And setting up a stage for a fight.

"It was a pretty accurate one, I'd say."

He wondered if she knows that I only get it correctly around once every third time or so.

"Glad to know that. So, what's your business here in Vale?"

"Well…I will be entering Beacon in days, so I figured I might as well as pay my fam-uhm, sister a visit. Nothing too interesting, really." Fuko took another sip from her cup.

_Beacon? Does that mean she is going to be a student? She look a bit old for that. Perhaps she is a graduate student? _

As he was about to nod, he saw the four stalkers now making their move and slowly walking towards the café.

_Here they come. Well, I need to get her out of the scene for the moment. _

He suddenly stood up, and slammed the tables with his palms, causing her to spill the coffee on her clothes. Time to be a little bit dramatic.

"Beacon? Did you just say Beacon?!"

"Uh…yes?"

"Oh goodness, that means you are going to be a Hunter!" Schiefer gushed with an exaggerated excitement.

"Correct." Her smile widened in spite of confusion, and he could've sworn he even saw a flash of pride in her eyes.

"I can't imagine what it must be like one. It must be amazing. Oh…uh…oh my, sorry about the spill. The restroom is right over there. I think if you wash it now, you might erase it." He pointed at the restroom with feigned panic and awkwardness. The stalkers were now only few steps away from the café.

"Right."

With that she went to the restroom, and just as the restroom's door closed, the stalkers walked right inside. Schiefer took a seat and took out two magazines he purchased earlier. Under the desk, he rolled them into a very tight roll and put it on his laps. He maintained the relaxed smile, which appeared more genuine than during the conversation with Fuksia, as he soon found himself surrounded by them.

"Why, good afternoon, gentleman. Would you care to join us for a nice cup of coffee?"

Schiefer then glanced at the stalkers, from the closest and furthest from him.

_176 cm, knife inside his jacket, lefthanded. 185cm, a drunk, bloated liver, brass knuckles inside his pocket. 180cm, insomniac, weak knees, a gun inside his jacket. 174cm, drug addict, a knife in his left pocket. Estimated neutralization time: 30 seconds. _

They all looked at him in a look that ranged from amused to contemptuous, and the stalker nearest to him reached and grabbed him by the collar with his left hand.

"I assume you are a tea person, then?"

The smile didn't leave his face, as his left hand twisted the stalker's wrist and yanked it violently. With his right hand, Schiefer grabbed the back of the stalker's head and slammed his face hard on the edge of the table.

Before the stalker could even pass out, Schiefer threw the body towards the stalker with a gun. Then stalker with brass knuckles throw a powerful punch at him. Schiefer dodged the punch with a side step and lunged at him, and threw all his momentum into a punch to the stalker's liver. The pain exploded throughout the stalker's body so fast that he couldn't even scream, and twitched as he collapsed on the floor.

The third stalker, now with the body of an unconscious stalker out of his sight, pulled out a gun. Schiefer kicked in his right knees and caused him to stumble. The operator picked up the roll of magazine and smacked the pistol out of the stalker's hand. Following up, he jabbed stalker with the tip of the magazine roll under his armpit, and caused the man to clutch under his shoulder in pain. This exposed his shoulder and neck, and Schiefer smacked the back of his neck with the magazine roll and knocked him out.

Now the last one, who just happened to be the drug addict that he ran into earlier. Unfortunately he already got out the knife, which was far more dangerous than gun in close quarter combat. Schiefer took a side stance, keeping his arms close to his body, his unarmed left hand positioned to guard his neck and face.

Contrast to Schiefer, the stalker took a wide stance and most of his body unguarded. Even then, such was the knife; even in the hands of an inexperienced combatant it could still be a danger, although unlike in the hands of the experienced, a knife would cause harm to both victims _and_ wielders.

For some reason, Schiefer's stomach decided to pick that moment to remind him that he didn't have a breakfast yet. He couldn't stop thinking about it even as the last standing stalker lunged at him.

_I guess I am being quite a bad dog. _

Schiefer parried the knife with the magazine roll and smacked the stalker in the nose. Now more aggressive, the stalker lunged even faster and clearer intent to kill.

_I do remember reading about how to deal with this. _

Schiefer simply opened up the rolled up magazines. The stalker's eyes widened as the knife got stuck into the magazines. Like a driver making a sharp turn, Schiefer turned the magazines and yanked the knife out of the stalker's hand.

Unfortunately, Schiefer did not anticipate the stalker taking out a second knife. The operator almost yelped as his neck felt the blade swung right over its skin.

_If Master was here, he would be laughing so hard that there will be tears in his eyes. Hmm, I could use a nice serving of scrambled eggs. Wonder if I can make one myself. How did it go?_

Dodging another swing, Schiefer grabbed his cup of still steaming green tea and threw it on the stalker's face.

_Crack eggs_.

Schiefer kicked the stalker in the groin, causing him to cry in pain and swing the knife blindly.

_Scramble. _

Taking advantage of one missed swing, Schiefer slapped both of the stalker's ears. His ears rang roundly and he dropped the knife and started to stagger, sense of balance near completely gone.

_Pinch__ of salt. _

Five rapid blows to kidney, liver, ribs, throat, and jaw.

_Alternatively, ketchup. _

Schiefer threw an elbow to the stalker's face, breaking his nose and caused blood to spill out. With a weak groan, the last stalker collapsed to the ground.

_Elapsed neutralization time: 29 seconds. _

Schiefer wondered if Fuksia heard any of those. The operator sat two of the bodies on a table, and was about to do the same to the rest of them, when he heard the bathroom door opening. He sat back on his seat, sipping tea from his now almost empty cup, pretending as if he had been casually drinking his tea in peace. He simply smiled when Fuksia took a seat at the table, understandably confused, but not too much. Before she could even ask, he changed the topic.

"Hey, Ms. Larrey. Did you manage to get the stain off?"

"Uh…I'm not sure. I think I will be fine." There was a faint brown stain on her white coat.

_Oh God, that is going to be a pain to remove. Uh…I wonder if dry cleaning will do? _

"Oh God, I'm so sorry. Here, this for the laundry."

Shepherd apologized and handed her a couple of Lien bills.

"No, that won't be necessary."

_She seems to be a type of person who is trying too hard to be nice to other people. She would reject everything…unless…_

"Please, if nothing else, do it _for me_. For my conscience?"

He raised his eyebrow when Fuksia took the cash, albeit with a bit of reluctance.

"Well…okay?"

"Thank you. Again, I'm so sorry."

"It's all right, really. By the way, what just happened here?"

Schiefer looked at the bodies again and worked his brain to come up with a decent explanation.

"Oh, these people? I don't know, these people…just stumbled in. I think they are either drunk or on drug. It's a normal occurrence, so don't pay it much mind. That's the thing about this café really, it draws curious people."

"Like you?"

"Oh please, I am a man whose existence is cursed with perpetual dullness." Schiefer somewhat reflexively replied.

"If you say so."

For a while, they just kept on drinking their beverages. In the silence he pondered: he was a curious person? That was not a good thing at all. Of course, considering the way he just walked her, a complete stranger, into a café that he had never been before, and made all the incapacitated bodies appearing out of nowhere, he couldn't blame her. There was something about it he found it quite flattering, however. Was it supposed to be a compliment? He had no idea.

The silence soon became a bit too awkward for him and prompted him to start up a conversation. Putting his empty cup down, Schiefer asked her another question.

"Say, what is with that hairpin of yours?"

"What? What about it?"

"Why are you keeping it in your pocket, instead of wearing it? Is it part of the new culture, because I am not quite up to date with it."

"Oh, this. Well…do you want me to wear it?"

The question caused him to raise his eyebrow. What kind of question was that? How was he supposed to answer that?

"Uh…sure? I mean it is yours, so do whatever you want with it."

"Okay, then."

Schiefer watched her closely as her delicate fingers put the orange flower hairpin on the right side of her fuchsia hair. He noticed that despite being roughed up, the long hair still had silkiness. Once she finished putting it up, she looked at him with her purple eyes. He felt his heart skipping a beat.

"…Wow. That…makes you look…a lot better." He found himself stuttering, in spite of himself. Her giggles only made the sentiment that caused the stutter much worse.

"Why, thank you."

"Is it a gift from your parents?" He continued talking about the hairpin. He had to keep his mouth running to hide his sentiment, or he would end up just shutting up for good and leaving the place. Her and his little manhunt be damned.

"…How did you know?"

"Well…firstly, I can see the wear on it, which stands out in comparison to your new clothes. I assume that it is worn because how often you touched it. Also, the whole thing is made of very fine but strong fabric and adorned with some jewelry. I highly doubt that you had any friend that age who could afford something like that."

"Oh? That's…an interesting chain of thinking. Accurate, too. Wait, was it one of your shot in the dark too?"

_Starting to turn more and more into a showoff, though._

"As a matter of fact, yes. Lady Fortune sure is on my side today! I should considering buying a lottery or two on the way."

"You probably should. Yeah, this is my dad's gift to my mom, who then gave it to me. It's not a family heirloom or anything, but it's really important to me."

Briefly he turned away from her, feeling guilty for using something so valuable simply to grab her attention. Then again, he often took something far more valuable for even smaller causes.

"I see. I must say, that hairpin makes you look really stunning. I mean, you already were, but…uh…actually, forget I said that."

"Make me." Fuksia smiled, which Schiefer returned, trying his darned hardest hide the blush on his face.

Was she…_teasing _him? Initially he thought against it, but the way she examined him suggested otherwise. His heart started beating even faster when she brushed her fuchsia hair behind her ear, even though the hair didn't appear to get on her face. Her smile became warmer and she could see interest in her relaxed purple eyes.

"Hey, Shepherd, are you free this afternoon?"

He almost jumped in his seat, and he resisted the urge to tug on his collar and turned his face away from her so she wouldn't see him sweating. What did she want from him? Unfortunately, his knowledge, skills, and experience proved useless against this kind of situation. Fortunately, though, he just happened to have something planned for the afternoon, he did _not_ forget about the main purpose of being in the city.

"Alas, I am not. I have a partner to meet up."

"Oh." Disappointment in her look was visible, which he tried his best to ignore.

"Quite a pity, indeed. Originally I was, but there was…a change of plan. You can never predict how things are, with my line of business."

"Businessman? How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

He thought about giving her a fake answer to that, but since he would be seeing her in Beacon anyway, he decided to just say as written in his academic transcripts (which mostly stayed true to his actual records – lie mixed with truth is the best, after all).

"Recently turned 20. You are entering Beacon, so I assume you are 17?"

"Uh…I'm 19, actually." Schiefer raised his eyebrow, but just nodded. He thought about asking why she was entering at an older age than most, but figured that it was none of his business, as curious as he felt.

"Really? I guess that explains."

"Explain what?"

_Your figure._

"Nothing."

"Okay…? Oh, and what kind of business are you in?"

"I am a security consultant, working for Schnee Dust Company. It's an interesting business, if nothing else."

It was true, at least on official documentation.

"Ooh, I see. You already got a nice job. I'm actually a bit jealous now."

_Ah yes, certainly well paying and comes with a lot of benefits, except the payment is more or less directly proportional to the occupational hazard. _

"Oh, only if you knew. Well, I must get going, I need to get to the other side of the city. It was nice meeting you, Ms. Larrey."

"Please, call me Fuko."

_Fuko. Fuko. Fuuuuuko. What an endearingly sounding name. I might just prefer that as well. _

"As you wish, Fuko. Oh, and can you take this ticket?

"What is this?"

"That would be a ticket to a play, this afternoon. Thanks to the plan change, I will have no use with it. I just wanted you to have it, in case you are interested."

Of course, the truth was that he handed her the ticket because the plan didn't want to change the plan. The stalkers who held the information he wanted were starting to gain consciousness, and he didn't want to explain the situation. He needed to get her out of his way, as cold as that sounded.

"Oh, thanks?"

"You are welcome, enjoy it for my stead. Or you can just throw it away, if you are not into those. Well, I must say farewell, and please, do stay in the safe side."

"Uh…right."

He left the café and with a quick pace, walked into the Hunter supply store nearby it. From inside, he observed as Fuko stood on the street, looking around, probably looking for him. When she saw the ticket, though, she smiled and walked away from the café with confident steps. Once he confirmed that she was completely out of his sight, he reentered the café. Just as he entered, he texted his Master a very simple message.

[P-L45]

All but one of the stalkers were still unconscious. The one who he punched the liver was trying to stand up, still clutching his waist. When he saw Schiefer, he lunged at him. Rolling his eyes, he simply dodged by sidestepping and kicked the behind of his collar and slammed his face on the table, just enough force to keep him pinned but without getting knocked out. When he kept resisting, Schiefer took his right little finger and twisted. The cry of pain instantly filled the place.

"Aw, aw, aw, what the fuck are you! What do you want?!"

The stalker painfully protested. He couldn't help but wondering how a grown up man can cry out like a little girl under pain.

One hand keep twisting the stalker's finger and the other hand reached behind his pocket and took the wallet out. Inside the wallet, he found a dark colored card with a red colored symbol with a wicked grin as well.

"Ah. Mr. Brown…be assured, I am not a villain. I just need a tiny bit of information, it will be very quick. Should you decline my proposal, though, I promise you it will be far longer than you are comfortable with. Should I elaborate further, my good sir?"

Schiefer spoke with a gentle smile and voice. When Brown turned around and saw his face, a chill spread through his body and proceeded to answer him in resignation.

"That was not too hard, was it? I apologize for bothering you and your companions, I suggest you go and take a little break."

Schiefer hit the back of his head, knocking him out cold. Confirming that everyone was unconscious, he took all their wallets and took the cash, which he gave to the owner of the café, reading a pornographic novel behind the cash register.

"This is for the coffee and tea, in addition to a little bit of silent cooperation."

"Be my guest. Not the first time happening. You will be back here pretty soon." The owner said with a yawn.

"I rather doubt that."

"That's what they all say. Now get along, those legs aren't going to break themselves."

"…Right. Uh…good day, ma'am."

His face brightened up as he left the café. Now he finally all the pieces of the map.

* * *

Smoke from a fine cigar trailed upwards in the still air inside a barely lit warehouse. Orange haired man in a white jacket and black bowler hat growled as he walked around in a circle, occasionally swinging his walking stick around out of frustration whenever he looked at the place that he was stuck for the moment. All by himself, in a place that hardly anyone knew even existed, what was he, some kind of a dangerous wild animal?

Putting off his cigar, he lit the fourth cigar of the day. Things shouldn't have gone this badly. He remembered a documentary about natives in a savanna, how just few of them could take food from a pride of lions, simply by walking towards them very confidently. His wasn't the exactly the same idea, as he typically had more men compared to his target, but the idea was similar enough. He and his men would just waltz right onto a Dust shop, but no witness ever dared to call the police right away, so they never got him before he made his exit.

Not that he got caught this time around, of course. However, he lost all his henchmen and had to get out in a hurry, instead of making a coordinated and stylish exit in a way he preferred. He was no stranger to defeats; accepting that defeat can happen to anyone was an important thing to know in his line of business. Suffering defeat to a little girl, who appeared just old enough to start having her periods, however, was a whole another level of humiliation.

Even that was nothing, compared to the fact that he couldn't do anything. He had to be in either in the middle of an operation or at least plotting one. In a warehouse where all he could see was blue-grey walls and ceiling, and communication was limited, neither was an option. If it was up to him, he would just go out of the hiding place, to find either more interesting hiding place, or even start causing a trouble just for the hell of it. He was a man who made his own plan and picked his own men, that was the way he liked.

To fight off his boredom, he aimed his cane cannon to one of the walls. Then he reconsidered; it would gather far too much attention, even though the place was surprisingly sound-proof, simply because it would blast through the wall. Luckily for him (and no so luckily for the poor walls), he also had a pistol he took from one of his fallen henchmen. Of course, it could still attract attention from the police.

Not that he feared getting caught by the police. He did get caught once, and it wasn't even that bad. Ever since he started working with certain someone, though, things have changed. He was to wait in the warehouse until the right moment, until she gave him the order to get out of the hiding. He felt as if he really was being treated like one of the animals that he was being forced to work with.

He growled and made sure that the gun was properly loaded. Maybe he could get caught by the police just to spite her. Without any further thought, he started shooting at one of the walls. The consequence of going against his order didn't seem to bother him one bit.

"What. In the world. Are you doing, Roman?!"

Hearing the raspy voice, Roman quickly turned around aimed both his pistol and cane gun at the source of the sound. Upon seeing a familiar grey hair and slate colored jacket, though, the wanted criminal simply smiled.

"Bored." Roman replied.

"What?"

"Bored. Bored! BORED!" Roman shot three more rounds to the wall, causing Schiefer to plug his sensitive ears.

"So you take it out on the wall?" The operator frowned.

"The wall had it coming."

"I am certain it did." Schiefer raised his eyebrow, but simply smiled. Roman lowered his weapons and walked towards him.

"Most definitely. How are you doing, kiddo? It has been, what, almost a year?" Roman said amiably, patting Schiefer's shoulder.

"I am doing fine, all things considered."

"I heard that little operation of yours went pear shaped. I'm surprised that you are even alive, really. You just won't die, huh?"

"Believe it or not, I am not necessarily happy about it."

"Not this again."

"I see that you are still in shape."

"Orphans and old people make great practice targets." Roman joked.

"I am sure they do." Schiefer frowned, not entirely enjoying the morbid joke.

"So, what brings you here? Are you here to collect the bounty on my head?"

"As tempting as that might be, I am simply here to say hello."

"You came all the way here just to say hi? I'm torn between being confused and touched. I'm confuched."

"Well, I do also have a business around here." It was technically true. Schiefer showed Roman a bottle of wine, decorated with a red bow.

"An imported 50 year old wine. It was the best I could find in the store."

"I stopped drinking."

Schiefer went pale.

"Eh…eh? You did? Since when?!"

"I'm just joking. Thanks." Roman took the bottle.

"Ah, good. It seemed that I was not the only who wanted to buy that, and it was not pretty at all." Schiefer shuddered.

"I'm sure. Are you sure this isn't poisoned?"

"Blast, you perfectly saw through me!"

"Your art in deceit and trickery needs more practice, young grasshopper."

"Indeed. Seriously, though, I assure you, it is perfectly safe."

"I know. If you wanted me dead, I wouldn't have seen it coming."

"Should I ever come to kill you, I will make sure to make an exception and stab you _in the front. _Maybe I would even listen to your dying speech while shedding tears in the rain after I run my blade through you."

"A true friend, you are." Roman chuckled.

"I try."

"You know, all I've done for you and your people is giving you some leads on your targets. Was it really that helpful?"

"Helpful? Oh, far more than that. In fact, you are pretty much the honorary member of the Company."

"I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment."

"Well, I certainly intended as such. Say, you seem to have no problem seeing me here. Are you not going to ask me how I found you, or whether if I was being trailed by the police or not?"

"Oh, I have a pretty good idea how. I was aware of that even as I was in the scene."

"You did? If so, why didn't you try harder to erase your track?"

"I didn't find it necessary. You know how police these days are like. You can probably steal their kidneys when they are out of their depth, which is always. Unless you started working for them as some kind of a consulting detective, the chances of them finding me? Nil."

"Did the possibility of me choosing to work for police never come to you?"

"Oh please, you are a seasoned dog of war who can't even wag when someone pets you. There is no way that you will ever work for the police. You will only end up mauling civilians and criminals alike."

"Yes. Yes, you are right." Schiefer kept his smile, but the comment dug through his soul like a hot glowing poker.

"In addition, you worked as a sniper for a consulting _criminal_, didn't you?"

"Aye, yes, not the proudest moment of my career, I have no intention to deny that, and you know that means a lot. When he started taking hostages as part of his wicked game, it was the last straw for my employer and he severed all the connection with him."

"I heard he recently returned. How is it even possible? Didn't he swallow his gun two years ago?"

"It is most certainly ridiculous. Who knows, for all we know, that was part of his plan too."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"He does not make much sense in general."

"Point."

The cigar went off and Roman tried to light another cigar, but his lighter appeared to malfunction. Before he could feel annoyed, Schiefer used his own lighter to lit the cigar.

"Thank you. I didn't know you smoke."

"I do not. I simply carry one with me because it has a lot of uses."

"Ah." Roman nodded.

"How was her?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ms. Ruby Rose."

"Oh, the little red." Roman rolled his eyes. "What do you _think_?"

"Well, I would not know, I am not a psychic."

"Keep telling yourself that."

"She was pretty strong, from the looks and sounds of it."

"Compared to the worthless bunches of idiots that I wasted money on? I guess you can say that."

"It is fortunate that you got out of the scene. As much as I admire your prowess in combat, I doubt that you can fight off two Huntresses at once."

"Yeah, you're right. A good criminal knows when to book it."

"Is a good criminal not a something of an oxymoron?"

"I had jumbo shrimps that tasted awfully nice a couple of days ago. I _feast_ on oxymoron."

Schiefer chuckled.

"Oh, Roman, you never change."

"So…what are you going to do once you are out of here?"

"Sorry, kiddo. That much I can't tell. I'll probably be killed if I do."

"Oh. I see. Well, I respect that. Hmm…I guess I should be going."

"What, you come all the way here and you leave already?" Roman protested.

"As much as I hate it, I have an appointment tomorrow. Even if I leave right now, I will arrive at the dawn, and I need some sleep."

"Ah. How did you get here?"

"Motorcycle. I borrowed it."

"I thought motorcyles these days are hotwiring-proof?"

"What? No, it actually is a rental. I am going to return it tomorrow."

"Legal, urgh, boring." With that he fired another round to the wall, causing Schiefer to plug his ear up again.

"Good Lord, will you _please_ stop that? It could ricochet off the wall or gather police's attention!"

"I'm not afraid of police, you see. What a criminal fears isn't police, it's the justice. And justice…it is only as powerful as the public's interest. Do you think the public cares whether if I escape justice or not? No, not one bit. They are far, _far_ more interested in whatever little things celebrities do."

"What do you mean?"

"A major corporation committing a white collar crime that causes millions to lose their livelihood? People are more interested about which celebrity sleeps with who. A dictator slaughters thousands? Buried by breaking news about which celebrity marriages breaks off this time. Cure for an incurable disease revealed? Apparently not as interesting as news about which celebrity gets into a rehab…you know where I'm going with this?"

"I believe so."

"On that regards, I'm pretty thankful of the Hunters, even though I got stopped by a couple of them yesterday, because they ARE the celebrities nowadays."

"That is a pretty cynical perspective of you."

"You are a hunting dog, you are as _cynical_ as one can become."

"Maybe you are right. Maybe not."

"Eh. Well, I guess you must be leaving, then. Be careful of bad cabbies, by the way. One of them started serial killing, already killing two."

"Ah, yes. I think it is quite brilliant. No one ever thinks about the taxi driver. It is as if they are invisible, just a back of the head. Proper advantage of a serial killer. In a similar vein, if you want to spy someone in their house, try disguising yourself as a garbage man."

"Wow, you are surprisingly knowledgeable."

"Of course, I have done those myself."

Roman nodded and then he did a double take, his eyes widened. He stared at Schiefer, who only smiled. The wanted criminal took a step back from him.

"…Just to make sure, you are not going to kill me, are you?"

"Oh no, no need to worry about that. _My employer is very fond of you_."

Schiefer spoke with a naughty grin. Of course, his Master's opinion of Roman was lukewarm at the very least, but the resulting reaction?

"On the second thought, please kill me right now."

Definitely worth it.

"It is going to cost you. And no, your soul is not an acceptable form of payment."

"Damn. So you really did just come here to say hi, then?"

"Again, yes. Is there anything wrong with that?"

"No, not really. But I find the notion of someone going through all those trouble just to talk with an acquaintance for a bit."

Schiefer fell silent for a moment. He wanted to come up with a witty response, but find himself unable to do so. He knew why, but he abhorred admitting it.

"Roman…you are not just my acquaintance. You are my _friend, _or at least the closest to one that I am capable of having."

"Am I your enemy then?"

"You are really close to being one right now."

"Sorry, I'll shut up."

"No, you may continue, because I said what I needed."

Schiefer let out a sigh that sounded even raspier than usual and his haggard face almost looked like a skull. Roman observed his face carefully and upon a little bit of thinking, he took a good inhale from his smoke and adjusted his hat a little bit.

"Kiddo. I am saying this as a…'friend.' If you hang around me, it's going to get ugly for you. You will feel so much happier if you consider me as your enemy."

"What? How can you say things like that? How can I do something like that, you are my only friend in this whole bloody world."

"Things change, kiddo. The world has its way of exerting its will on people, and you are not remotely strong to challenge it. I used to believe that I was, in fact, strong enough to do so, but now I realize that I'm not. I mean, I get ordered around by one person, so how can I fight the world?"

This made Schiefer hang his head low, clenching his fist. Then something came to his mind.

"Roman, do you know what the final piece that helped me find you is?"

"I think…yes. Speak up, though."

"I intervened bunch of drunkards and drug addicts stalking a young woman, Ms. Fuksia Larrey, and they all had your cards."

"I remember that, yes."

"Roman…just…what is happening? What in the world is going on, you would never do something this erratic, it is simply not your thing. You will never hire bunch of lowlifes to do your work, you have standards, you have class, you are not just an average criminal. What. The. _Fuck_. Is. Happening?"

"Hey kiddo, you need to-"

"_**TELL ME!**__" _

Inhuman bark shook the entire warehouse like a thunderstorm, louder than any gun. Roman fell on his back and didn't stand back until he had a moment to see the normally calmly spoken operator breathing roughly as if he was going to die. Schiefer's hand was inside his jacket, as if he was trying to grab a gun. Even if he did pull the gun, though, Roman knew that he wouldn't be able to shoot a single round, because his whole body was shaking. Roman stood back up simply stood up and waited until Schiefer calmed his breathing.

"Are you done?"

"…Yes."

Without a word, Roman walked to the operator and took the notepad from inside of his jacket. The speed with which it happened was so fast that Schiefer couldn't even react properly.

"What? How?"

"Kiddo, don't forget who taught you how to do it."

"Ah."

Roman hastily scribbled down on a couple of pages. Once he was done, he looked at the notepad for a moment in hesitation. Taking a deep breath, he handed it over to Schiefer.

"Roman? What is this?"

The wanted criminal sighed.

"I'm not 'telling' you."

"What are you…oh."

"Don't read it until you got out of here. Once you are done reading, burn after reading. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand. I…then I will be going. It was a pleasure seeing you again. I hope to talk to you in the future as well, if it is…ever possible."

"Idle speculation won't change a thing, kiddo. Just go and do your work, I'll do mine. Nobody kindly waits for you." Roman spoke, turning around and spinning his cane.

"I understand. Stay safe…wait no, stay vigilant."

"And I hope that the next we see each other, it won't be as enemies."

Roman did not hear a reply from Schiefer. When he turned around, he found that the operator was gone, as if he was nothing but a mist. He inhaled smoke as he stared at the shattered moon from the small window of the warehouse. Sitting down at a corner, he found himself again alone in the dark warehouse, only lit by a flickering light of the cigar and moonlight pouring inside. Weary sigh escaped his dry mouth as he muttered.

"Everything changes, nothing perishes."

* * *

Immediately upon arrival at his hotel room, Schiefer locked the door and windows. Made sure of that, he then went inside the restroom and locked the door as well. With a shaky hand, he opened up the notes that Roman gave him. It took only a minute to read all of them, but Schiefer read it over and over, not believing what he read, and his shaking hands became worse by seconds. After reading it about a hundred times and engraving the content into his brain, he took out his lighter and burned the notes over the toilet and flushed down the ashes. He sat down on the toilet, his face buried on his palm.

His head felt too dizzy and he headed towards his bed and collapsed upon it. Despite how comfortable the bed felt, his eyes refused to shut down and his brain and body felt restless. Despite how much wider the room was in comparison to his dorm room, he felt as the bloody in his body clogging up and lungs not properly moving. After an excruciating hour of staring at the ceiling, he groggily woke up from the bed, suited up and left the room. This time, Schiefer left his gun in the room.

Cold dawn air clung onto his skin, but that was exactly the way he liked; he didn't want to fall asleep. He felt as if he wouldn't like whatever he would see once he succumbed to sleep. As an operator, getting required rest even though he couldn't feel like it was a crucial asset of an operator. It was, unfortunately, something he had hard time mastering. In fact, he never truly mastered; it was only in the presence of his comrades, he had easy time resting at all, and that was being relative. As he wandered around the town, he kept muttering the same thing over and over.

"Oh God, Roman. Oh…my God…what have you gotten yourself into…"

Roman was right; there was nothing he could do. Again he felt like a small animal, under mercy of a brutal predator that was just dying to devour him in a flash. Several times he even considered calling his Master, to tell him that he was not fit for the mission, that he simply had no confidence that the could do _anything at all._ He thought against it, however, when he realized his Master wouldn't take let him anyway. Even the acceptance of the fact that everything was denied to him was denied as well.

After wandering around for hours, he saw the café that he visited the day before opening up. He considered just ignoring the place. Once he remembered that little time he had with Fuko, however, crushing exhaustion and loneliness compelled him to walk towards to the place. Despite staying up all night, his pace was steady and coordinated. After all, he once went ten days without any sleep to catch his prey, even though he was pretty much a dead man walking. That time, however, he just felt so weak that he couldn't properly summon up such enormous pool of energy.

I told you that you will be back here pretty soon." The familiar face of the café's owner welcomed him with a yawn.

"Good day, ma'am."

Absentminded, Schiefer entered the café and took the exactly same seat that he took the day before. He stared at the other side of the table, his limp arms on the table, imagining the beautiful face of Fuko. But no matter how hard he stared, it was just him in his seat. Even though he was from an extremely cold region and wore a jacket that could be pretty warm, he found himself shuddering from coldness, not of his body.

"Here, stop shaking like a wet puppy. It's on the house."

The owner of the café placed in front of him a cup of green tea.

"…Thank you."

As soon as he took a sip from the cup, warmth immediately spread upon his body and trembling died down noticeably. When the warmth spread through his face, he found the muscles in his face loosening up. A drop of salty water fell into the tea, creating a ripple. The ripple became more and more frequent. Refusing to show his face to anyone, nor wanting to see the reflection of his face on the tea, Schiefer buried his face on his arms. The owner initially heard a little bit of moaning coming from him and saw his shoulder shaking, but soon he fell silent, as if he died right on that spot.

Hours passed and the street became more and more filled with people. As they walked, some people glanced at Schiefer sleeping, but nobody really cared and went on their ways. Then one person glanced inside the café and froze at the track. Her icy blue eyes widened upon realizing who it was. Adjusting her white hair and straightening the edge of her dress, the girl entered café with a haughty air.

The girl stared at the operator with eyes that contained many emotions. Standing next to the sleeping young man, she fidgeted around the a little bit, looking around. She stopped for a bit when she met her eyes with the owner of the café. She glanced at the owner, Schiefer, the owner, and Schiefer. The owner simply shrugged and went on to her work, opening up a novel.

Once again brushing her hair the face bended her body, slowly lowering her face to that of Schiefer's. She continued until her lips were almost touching his face and she could hear the soft breath coming from him. Pausing for a moment, she took a deep breath.

And yelled in his ears.

"Wake up!"

"Ah!"

Bolted up, knocking his tea down and almost flipping the table. The girl in a white hair simply stepped backwards to avoid being hit by his head. Schiefer briefly found himself in a combat mode. When he saw who it was that awake her, however, he collapsed into his seat, his eyes widened and his mouth hung open.

"Are you awake now?"

The girl crossed her arms and looked down on Schiefer with a haughty and disapproving look. Her entire presence shook his being to the core.

"…Lady Weiss?!"


End file.
